_______________________________________
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
. __ .
. -*- N A M V E T -*- ____/ \_ .
. ( * \ .
. Managing Editor \ Quangtri .
. ---------------- \_/\ \_ Hue .
. G. Joseph Peck \_Ashau Phu Bai .
. \_* \_ .
. Distribution Manager \ * ) .
. -------------------- _/ Danang .
. Jerry Hindle \|/ ( \_*Chu Lai .
. --*-- \_ ------- \__ .
. /|\ \_ I Corps \ .
. Section Editors \ ------- ! .
. --------------- /\_____ ! .
. INCARCERATED VETS: Joyce Flory / ! \ .
. MIA/POW: Paul Bylin ! !___ \ .
. ! \/\____! .
. KEEPER OF THE LIST: Joyce Flory ! ! .
. / Dak To ! .
. / * / .
. ! \_ .
. ! Phu Cat\ .
. \ * * ) .
. \ Pleiku ) .
. -*- N A M V E T -*- \ \ .
. / / .
. "In the jungles of 'Nam, some of us ( -------- ! .
. were scared and wary, but we pulled _\ II Corps ! .
. one another along and were able / -------- \ .
. to depend on each other. That has \ \ .
. never changed. Today, free of the ! * / .
. criticisms and misunderstandings _/ Nhatrang / .
. many veterans have endured, _/ / .
. NAM VET is a shining beacon, __/ ! .
. a ray of hope, and a _ __/ \ ! .
. reminder that the _____( )/ ! Camranh Bay .
. lessons learned / !__ ! .
. at such a high / \ / .
. price shall not \ Bien Hoa \ / .
. be forgotten - ! Chu Chi * \ __/ .
. nor the errors \_ * --------- \ ___/ .
. repeated!!!" ____ \ III Corps \ _/ .
. / \_____) )_(_ --------- !__/ Duplication in .
. ! ( ___/ any form permitted .
. _____! \__ * ___/ for NONCOMMERCIAL .
. ! Saigon/ purposes ONLY! .
. \___ -------- / \/ .
. \ IV Corps / For other use, contact: .
. ) -------- / .
. / ! G. Joseph Peck (813) 885-1241 .
. / ____/ Managing Editor .
. / Mekong/ .
. ! Delta/ This newsletter is comprised of articles .
. ! ____/ and items from individuals and other .
. ! / sources. We are not responsible for the .
. ! / content of this information nor are any of .
. ! __/ NamVet's contributors or Section Editors. .
. \_/ gjp .
. .
Seventh Annual NamVet Page i
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
1. From US to YOU
Short ... but meaningful ................................. 1
Happy Birthday NamVet!!! ................................. 2
The President's Veterans' Day Proclamation ............... 3
Copyright Notice ......................................... 5
2. Keep on keeping on!
Yahrzeit '88 ............................................. 6
Maggie ................................................... 9
The Silent Warrior ....................................... 12
Murphy's list continues to grow! ......................... 13
Sermon from Mount Dong Quang ............................. 15
3. Heart to heart...
Honoring Vietnam's Hidden Casualties ..................... 16
I was there just last night .............................. 18
eterans Day at The Wall .................................. 21
Family Ties .............................................. 24
Let YOUR Congressperson KNOW!!!! ......................... 26
4. Let my people go!
MIA/POWs. Does anyone REALLY care? ...................... 27
Does one person's effort REALLY count? ................... 29
They haven't forgotten US!!! ............................. 31
How will the Vietnam war end? ............................ 32
US Government Cover-up Exposed ........................... 35
Vietnam Casualty Inscribed on Wall ....................... 36
Remember? ................................................ 37
5. The NamVet Chapel
Proper Perspective!! ..................................... 38
The Electronic Chapel .................................... 39
6. Prepared ... but not
OH, How Far It's Come .................................... 40
Imprisoned Vietnam vets have voice ....................... 42
A visit or note once in awhile? .......................... 45
Common Sense? ............................................ 46
Incarcerated Veterans .................................... 47
Vietnam Veterans ......................................... 49
7. Don't eat or drink!
Veterans and Agent Orange ................................ 55
Break out the Clearasil ! ............................ 70
8. Veteran commo from Uncle Sam and ...
DVA & Women Veterans Health Programs ..................... 71
VWMP's Sister Search ..................................... 75
VWMP's Sister Search Form ................................ 76
VWMP Products for 1994 ................................... 77
9. Bits n' Pieces
Vets Bits .......................................... 78
Been there ... done that! ................................ 81
Babykillers, that's what we were called .................. 82
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
10. VETLink BBS Spotlight
Traumatized Vet Helps Others Via Computer ................ 83
11. Eternal Vigilance ...
NamVet/IVVEC Service Department! ......................... 86
Treat Our Flag Right ..................................... 87
Our Flag - Part 2 ........................................ 88
Our Flag - Part 3 ........................................ 89
12. IVVEC Phonebook/Information
IVVEC Phonebook .......................................... 90
Happy Birthday NamVet!!! ................................. 99
Some Gave All... ......................................... 100
Seventh Annual NamVet Page ii
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
From US to YOU
==================================================================
Short ... but meaningful
By Gjoseph Peck
NamVet's Managing Editor
VETLink #1 - Tampa, FL
(813) 249-8323
Patty calls kitten-now-cat Piglet; I call her Squirt. If you've
been following our NamVet's for a time, you'll recognize the name
"LZ English" - the name given a kitten by one of the characters in
a past editorial; the kitten who, in a sense, brought to one of
our near-fictionalized Nam vet the realization that Life _does_ go
on and we _must_ "keep on keeping on" when it would be kind of
"safe" to just stay right where we are, doing things we're
familiar with. She's sitting on top of the monitor, carefully
watchin' my fingers fly across the keyboard and making SURE I'm
doing things as near right as I can (I haven't taught her how to
spell-check yet though ). Kind of looks like she _knows_
that this, our 7th Annual NamVet, won't be done until my editorial
is finally finished.
"Please don't take all night again," I can almost hear her
thinking as her bright beady eyes stare at me, ears perking when
the keyboard slows. "Please don't take all night again... there's
lots of veterans out there in cyberspace that are waiting for this
to get done..."
I thought I had a critic on my shoulder BEFORE ... THIS one
stares at me until my job is done!
Click ... click ... click ...
" .... the ultimate tragedy in life is not failure. The
ultimate tragedy is to be unwilling to take risks when significant
purposes present themselves!"
Without further ado, I present to you our Seventh Annual edition
of NamVet ... and sincerely thank all of those who have
contributed to it, who have read it, who eagerly look forward to
the next issue coming off the electronic presses.
Thank you ALL for giving SPECIAL meaning to MY life ...
'til next time
Show a brother or sister veteran
that YOU care!!!
-= Joe
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 1
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAM_VET!!!!
* * * * * * *
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
___| |___| |____| |____| |____| |___| |___| |___
| |
| Putting unity in our Veteran CommUNITY!! |
________| |________
G. Joseph Peck * John Mendes * Jerry Hindle * Ray Moreau * Doc
Megan Flom * Dave Doehrman * Joan Renne * Dale Malone * Jeff Beer
Clay Tannacore * Jim Hildwine * Lefty Frizzell * Alex Humphrey
Craig Roberts * Ray Walker * Bill Plude * Jim Ferguson * Bil Cook
Ed Brant * Mike Harris * Glenn Toothman * Carl Dunn * Don Purvis
Fred Sochacki * Sarge Hultgren * George Currie * Rick Bowman
Doug McArthur * Sam Thompson * Marsha Ledeman * David Nieuwouldt
George Fallon * Bob Douglas * Ken Knowlton * R.J. Christenson
Martin Kroll * Glen Kepler * Terry Hayes * Lydia Fish * Jim Ennes
Karen Winnett * Scott Summers * Ralph Carlson * Joe Meadors
Mike Kelley * Chick Curry * Charles Harper * David Kirshbaum
George Winters * Bob Smith * Aulton White * James Nerlinger Jr.
Gordon Giroux * Rod Germain * Todd Looney * Bac Si * Pete Farias
Brad Meyers * Max Green * Marge Clark * Ann Murrell * John Sakers
Bob Morris * Gale Barrows * Joe Roske * Ralph Feller * Jack Moore
Geoffery Setser * James Capelle * Rick McMahon * Chris Pollack
Richard Morrow * Henry Elsworth * Jesse Kitson * Jim Henthorn
Art Fellner * Harlow Campbell * Rick Kelley * Mike Readinger
Richard Wolbaum * Walt Fletcher * Mike Halley * Gary Searles
Larry Kerr * Patti Porter * Wade Fallin * Lance Cooper * Jim Fine
Bob Wieters * Ken & Joyce Flory * Mike Dacus * George Marsh
Randall Dickerson * Steve Byars * Jon Mankowski * Henry Van Leer
Chuck Reed * Paul Bylin * John Olsen * Rick Cowan * Larry Pulka
Arthur Caby * Ron Allen * David Coleman * Dave Smith * Dan Nance
Robert Johnson * Larry Easley * William G. Smith * Art Dunkle
Jeff Patterson * Eddie Shoe * Van Hoyle * Russ Terry * Bob Smith
Henry France * Gordon Roberts * Mary & John McGill * Lance Culp
Gerald Thibodeaux * Jerry Murphy * Stephen O'Donnell * Don O'Dell
________________________________________________________________jef
>>>>>>> and all the rest of us!!!! <<<<<<<
Our *-SEVENTH-* Year
" Service with Pride! "
The International Newsletter for Vietnam Veterans
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 2
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
The President's Veterans' Day Proclamation
Provided by Jeff Beer
VETLink #50 - Fairfield Bay, AR
(501) 884-6277
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________
For Immediate Release October 27, 1994
VETERANS DAY, 1994
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
Each year, we set aside November 11 to honor the men and women
who have served in our Nation's Armed Forces. Their stories are
not only of past glory and current sacrifice; their lasting
contributions are to our future as well. Their deeds and
dedication assure us and the generations to come that America's
great promise of freedom and happiness will endure and flourish.
Fifty years ago on this day, American forces of World War II
were pushing the enemy back across the European continent,
liberating hundreds of thousands along the way. These heroic
Americans fought to win the peace, not just for themselves and for
their Nation, but for oppressed millions in many lands.
The world has changed tremendously since then. Today, the
international role of the United States has evolved from
peacemaker to peacekeeper. And still we call upon our Armed
Forces to serve our Nation and to defend the cause of freedom
everywhere. Our men and women in uniform understand that the
ideals of democracy and self-determination are larger than any
single nation. The blood of Americans spilled on battlefields
from Normandy to Korea to Vietnam and the vigilant defense of
freedom throughout the Cold War have taught us a lasting lesson:
America can only rest secure when every individual knows liberty
and all nations live at peace.
It is an extraordinary person who is willing to step in harm's
way to protect others. Our Nation has always been blessed with an
abundance of such men and women. We owe our veterans an
inestimable debt of gratitude. On this day, we recognize how much
they have done, and are doing, to make a better, safer tomorrow
for all of us.
In order that we may pay due tribute to those who have served
in our Armed Forces, the Congress has provided (5 U.S.C. 6103 (a))
that November 11 of each year shall be set aside as a legal public
holiday to honor America's veterans.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United
States of America, do hereby proclaim Friday, November 11, 1994,
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 3
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
as "Veterans Day." I urge all Americans to honor the resolution
and commitment of our veterans through appropriate public
ceremonies and private prayers. I call upon Federal, State, and
local government officials to display the flag of the United
States and to encourage and participate in patriotic activities in
their communities. I invite civic and fraternal organizations,
places of worship, schools, businesses, unions, and the media to
support this national observance with suitable commemorative
expressions and programs.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-
seventh day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred
and ninety-four, and of the Independence of the United States of
America the two hundred and nineteenth.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 4
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
> * - Copyright Notice - * ____/~~\_ <
< ( * \ >
> Prepared by G. Joseph Peck \ Quangtri <
< NamVet Project \_/\ \_ Hue >
> Electronic Veterans' Centers of \_Ashau Phu Bai <
< America Corporation (EVAC) \_* \_ >
> Copyright 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, \_ * ) <
< 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 _/ Danang >
> ( \_*Chu Lai <
< All rights reserved. \_ ------- \__ >
> \_ I Corps \ <
< NamVet is a collective volunteer \ ------- ! >
> effort comprised of articles and /\_____ ! <
< items sharing veteran-related news, / ! \ >
> experiences and resources amongst ! !___ \ <
< veterans, their family members, ! \/\____! >
> concerned others and health, ! ! <
< educational and correctional / Dak To ! >
> institutions. / * / <
< ! \_ >
> ! Phu Cat\ <
< Segments of this newsletter may be \ * * ) >
> excerpted for counseling, self- \ Pleiku ) <
< help, dissemination amongst veteran \ \ >
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< scholarly purposes without further ( -------- ! >
> permission; it is requested only _\ II Corps ! <
< that proper credit be given to the / -------- \ >
> author of a particular article and \ \ <
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> _/ Nhatrang / <
< ANY OTHER USE REQUIRES THE _/ / >
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< _ __/ \ ! >
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< Corporation \ Bien Hoa \ / >
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< \_ * --------- \ ___/ >
> . ____ \ III Corps \ _/ <
< / \_____) )_(_ --------- !__/ >
> ! ( ___/ <
< _____! \__ * ___/ >
> ! Saigon/ <
< \___ -------- / \/ >
> \ IV Corps / <
< ) -------- / CONTACT: >
> / ! Electronic Veterans' Centers of <
< / ____/ America Corporation (EVAC) >
> / Mekong/ ATTN: G. Joseph Peck <
< ! Delta/ Managing Editor - NamVet >
> ! ____/ Post Office Box 261692 <
< ! / Tampa, Florida 33615-1692 >
< ! / VOICE: (813) 885-1241 <
< ! __/ >
< \_/ gjp <
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 5
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
Keep on keeping on!
==================================================================
Yahrzeit '88
Submitted Anonymously
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
- John Keats "Ode to a Nightingale"
She put them up in a brass and stained oak frame. Against the
white satin background they didn't appear so ominous, and didn't
supply a hint as to the way in which they are awarded. A pretty
color, like that on the robes of royalty; pure and deep with
majestic allusion. On a weekly basis, she polished the frame,
keeping the brass as bright as a ray of morning sunlight. The
glass was so spotless that it was possible to see quite clearly
ones own reflection. She picked a conspicuous spot for them,
and fastened them to the wall in the hallway.
And so they hung there, waiting. Waiting.
But I didn't look at them. I didn't want to see the morbid days
and endless nights that caused their arrival. I didn't want to
face the face that won these prizes through violent means. But
she kept polishing the brass and glass, commenting "They are
precious metals" to those who asked about them. And they hung
there on the wall, passed each time a step was taken in the
hall.
And so they hung there, waiting. Waiting.
Each week she would clean them, and the evening sun would cast a
reflected light ray to the end of the hall. Each week she would
polish them with a tenderness as if they were children to be
held. She never said a word about them, but it was easy to tell
she was extremely curious about their origins.
And so they hung there, waiting. Waiting.
Any appeal to remove them was met with stern disapproval. She
wanted something to remind her of what had happened, even if she
didn't know exactly what that was. She never pried, but held me
gently on the nights I would wake up soaked in sweat and tears.
She never complained, and never wanted out; instead she would
shed tears for my fears, and cry for my sorrows. And every
week, she would clean and polish them, until like a beacon they
shone.
And so they hung there, waiting. Waiting.
The sleepless nights faded into the past, the weeks melted into
months, and the months passed into years. And each week she
would polish them, not voicing a bit of curiosity. She
understood the pain, because it was evident in her eyes each
morning after a dream of return had come. Her soft touch and
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 6
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
wavering voice exposed the silent melancholy her heart felt and
she tried so hard to hide. And each week, she returned to them,
polishing them brightly.
And so they hung there, waiting. Waiting.
The tenderness, style and beauty was taken from her in an
instant she never realized. I never had a chance to explain to
her the prize was one of immense sorrow. She would polish them
as if they were the most important thing in our existence. She
held them as tenderly as she had held me on the occasions that
it was needed. She understood that the key to my welfare was
locked in that frame of brass and oak, and the only way to
release the demons was to face the face in the reflected glass.
And so they hung there, waiting. Waiting.
Her funeral was a complete shock. The realization of death I
thought had died many years ago. Death was something benign,
something that didn't affect me anymore. Yet here she was, the
Joy, Beauty and Truth of my life, lying in grassy solitude. She
was no longer there to polish the brass and oak frame, so the
dust and tarnish collected, dimming the Light they reflected in
the past.
And so they hung there, waiting. Waiting.
What the war couldn't accomplish, I thought pills could. G-d
it's such a hard life! The pills: they can fix everything. If I
take enough of them.... And like a memory hidden by time, the
brass greened and the oak cracked.
And so they hung there, waiting. Waiting.
Waking up in the hospital, I was told death had been a breath
away. My first reaction was anger for failing, then anger for
trying, and finally settled into weeks of self imposed
isolation, purging the pent up feelings in emotional
self-abasement. The questions came faster than I could possibly
answer, and I closed myself off even further. Ignoring all life
around me.
And so they hung there, waiting. Waiting.
I got home with the feeling she had deserted me; leaving me in
not so silent agony. The first thing I noticed was they were
polished, bright as any day she had cleaned them. I asked who
polished them, and everyone said they didn't know. I took them
off the wall, excused myself and went into my private chambers.
For the first time I was able to look at them since they were
hung around my neck by the powers that warranted their action.
For the first time I was able to look at the face that won them,
and realize that it was a face of an ordinary man, and not a
maniacal killer. I held them and finally the tears came. The
tears that would begin to wash away the stench of guilt and
sorrow of the years past. The tears that would finally release
me from the unbearable torments of my dreams. As I moved to
wipe the fallen tears from the polished glass, I looked and saw
her face, as clearly as she was sitting there with me. She was
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 7
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
smiling a smile of extreme serenity, and lipped the words
"Welcome home. I love you." And just as suddenly, she was gone.
I knew then who returned the lustre to them.
And they no longer hung there, waiting. Waiting.
I took the medals and wrapped them in a bedsheet and boxed them
up. The box was taken to a family storage place, where they
will be safe and cool. The brass and oak frame that she
polished so persistently will be safe from corrosion and decay
until I decide to take them out again. But for now, they have
served their purpose. The Marines gave them to me for my
conduct. My wife gave them to me for my sanity.
And they no longer hang there, waiting. Waiting.
15 years ago I finished my SEA tour. 10 years ago my wife died,
taking that beautiful smile and that full life with her. With
this, the tenth anniversary of her death, I would like to let
the world know that she was with me when all others had given up
hope, and loved me when I didn't seem to love her back. So my
continuing love for her I express poorly in these words:
You were all of life to me. Yet when I thought that you had
abandoned me in death, you still managed to pull me through
life. You gave me back that burning desire for life I had lost.
Even as you could support me in life, you saved me in death. I
cannot offer anything other than the troth I pledged before, to
reaffirm before G-d and man to love you for all eternity.
# # #
Semper fidelis
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 8
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Maggie
By Michael McCombs
VETLink #1 - Tampa, FL
(813) 249-8323
LTC Martha Raye. Helluva lady. Hell of a woman, period. Only
stateside entertainer to ever come to our compound in Kontum. No
troupe, no lights, no microphones, no nothin' fancy. Just Maggie.
And that's the way it's best.
None of the others even tried. Not that we would've have let 'em in,
of course. The compound was sealed from pryin' civilians, and most
military, for that matter. Which was good, 'cause we never had to
look over our shoulders to see if Dan Rather was writin' it all down
to be corrupted on the six o'clock news. But it did have the
downside of never seein' a round-eyed woman without makin' the trek.
Well, I guess nothin's perfect.
But Maggie came. She had a standin' invite. Didn't even have to mail
it to her. We were there, the guys in the funny green hats. That
meant she was welcome. Don't know how old that was, but it had been
a fact of bein' SF since Training Group. Maggie was one of us. You
learned it along with the club handshake upon receipt of the magic
decoder ring. And it was just about as fundamental as which end of
your rifle pointed down range. I found out why in Kontum.
The excitement amongst the older generation (over twenty-five) was
dynamic that mornin'. Everybody was runnin' around gettin' haircuts,
clean uniforms, brushin' their teeth, and checkin' their booze
supply. I asked, and they would just grunt, "Maggie." Like maybe it
was some kinda magic formula or somethin'. Oh, I knew the name, but
damn man, this was bizarre behavior. So I did it too. Sarge didn't
raise no dummies, and I can sense a gale blowin' as well as the next
guy. Hell, I even helped clean the Recon Club - an awesome task,
flatly turned down by the maids. Whaddahell, might as well get in on
this. Never met any celebrities before, anyhow. She'd been in a lot
of those old movies I'd watched as a kid.
She arrived on a chopper from Pleiku around mid-afternoon. A couple
of the E-8's went out and got her in a jeep and brought her back
through the gates. Little woman, not too much bigger than the
'yards. Hair permed to death, wrinkles everywhere, and a smile that
could stop an incomin' 122 and make it purr. God, the smile went
from ear to ear and back again, and it dropped twenty years off her
like a shot. And she wasn't tidy with it, she spread it all over the
place. Had one for everyone of us, with plenty left for the 'yards,
ARVN, everybody. Sheee****t! This was okay, man.
She got outta the jeep in front of Recon company HQ, threw off her
baseball cap, and out came the beret.
She put it on, smiled even wider, and said, "I need a f*ckin'
drink!"
Damn straight. It didn't strike me as incongruous, then. I mean we
all talked like that, too. I wouldn't catch on to that until I got
home and had a series of folk explain to me it wasn't proper
English. Whadahell! Somebody got her a drink.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 9
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Then it was off for a tour of the compound. She'd been here before,
that was obvious. What was amazin' was that she remembered the
place. She wanted to see this and that, and she knew all the old
names, all the teams and who'd been on 'em. She also remembered
every name given to her. First time, every time.
"Maggie, this is Mike McCombs from RT California."
"Glad to meet ya, Mike, didya know Joe?"
"Damn straight, met me off the plane."
"Good man, Joe, saw him in Hollywood a couple weeks back. You the
one he called Sweet Thing?"
Shee****t! What kinda memory banks this lady got, anyhoo?
She stops and talks to everybody. The 'yards haven't seen any
American women in a while, and are dazzled by this one with the
silver leafs and the big mouth. She gets more bracelets than the
rest of us put together. Later, Weet will smile at me and say that
he now understands why alla men come to Nam. I only smacked him a
little. And at every stop she drinks. And she stays sober. Now, I've
got good capacity, but this is awe inspirin'. And it's still before
dinner.
Dinner she eats one night with us and one night in the O-club. She
admits she does have to do it cause of the rank. But she doesn't
spend a lot of time with 'em, she wants to be with the guys who hump
the boonies. Good taste. She don't mind the officers that do that
humpin', it's the staffies she don't like. After dinner, she bar
hops.
Its odd about this camp. We have maybe 100 Americans, and five
clubs. We all bar hop to an extent, spread the wealth around. But we
all have our favorites, too. Mostly it's the regular clientele.
Recon or Covey or old NCO or Officer or Mike. Maggie hits 'em all.
She concentrates on Recon and Mike. Again, 'cause we hump the
boonies. Lord only knows what she does when she goes to non-SF
joints. But that ain't my problem. The first night she holds forth
mostly in Mike. The second night, she's mostly in my AO. There ain't
no third night. She's got a schedule, and she has to get back to her
troupe and still make stops elsewhere. But that second night....
The war wasn't put on hold. Teams still came and went, the guard
changed, life went on. But Maggie managed to lace her way into the
fabric of it. She'd stop in with a team and help pack chow. She
filled sandbags, she helped a team off the pad with their rucks,
bringin' cool ones, she watched us go to the range, played pool,
walked the berm, visited Rosie's. Sh*t, she was everywhere. Ate with
the guys, and always had a kind word, a good story, and news of the
other sites the few remainin' green weenies were hangin' at. She
never said a monologue or stood on a stage. but she did her
entertainin' job to the max. Sh*t, she didn't bring a piece of home,
she brought herself, and gave remorselessly.
That second night I spent three hours drinkin' and talkin' with her
in the Recon Club. Nothin' special 'bout me, just I was from
Southern Cal., too, and we had lots to talk about. Others came and
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 10
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
went, but we stayed. I don't remember Viet Nam that night. don't
think I was there. I think we were down on the Sunset Strip, and the
band was playin', and the folks were dancin', and it was a good
date. She left, that third morning, the way she came. We stood on
the berm and waved as she flew away. Then we did a collective sigh
and went back to war.
I saw her again in '72, after I came home for the divorce. She kept
a safehouse in Hollywood for us. I was at loose ends, no home
anymore, and she took me in. She couldn't stay; off to Thailand, I
think. But I was welcome to stay. I did for a week, and then I went
off to Ft. Devens and 10th Group.
One last time, I saw her. At Arlington, in D.C. A funeral for an old
SGM who dived into a pea patch in Thailand. She was there, in dress
greens, Corcorans, beret and all. For a friend. She pulled me aside
and asked if it was true that his 'chute was fine and he just hadn't
pulled. I just pointed at the man's wife and kids, and she nodded.
She went over to 'em, afterwards, and said TheWords. Helluva lady.
I think she knew she'd heard right.
After the funeral, she and I once more held forth at a local club,
the NCO club on North Post, just outside the cemetery. The others
came by, and I somehow ended up delegated escort. Don't know how.
Maybe it was the way she said "Sweet Thing," maybe not. A young
Spec. 4 came over and begged her to come to the Acey-Deucy club,
'cause they never got celebrities. And we went. I got her back to
her hotel around 2:30, and I don't remember how the hell I got back
home. I'll bet she didn't even have a hangover....
That's about it. That's the Maggie I knew. I guess she recently got
married to some young dude in Hollywood. She's no sprin' chicken
anymore. Hope it works out.
Just a quick word for ya, dude. You'd better treat Maggie right. You
don't and your ass is grass. And I know a couple thousand lawn
mowers, all of 'em ugly as me....
.-~~-.--.
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( .- -. )
`- -.-~ `- -' ~-.- -'
( : ) _ _ .-:
~--. : .--~ .-~ .-~
~-.-^-.-~ \_ .~ .-~ .~
\ \' \ '_ _ -~
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. - ~ ~-.__`.`-.//
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/_~_ _ . - ~ ~-.~-._
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Seventh Annual NamVet Page 11
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
THE SILENT WARRIOR
By: Karen A. Winnett
S.I.R.E.N. IS CALLING - Sacramento, CA
(916) 971-0589
The fire fights have ended and the big guns no longer roar
but the Silent Warrior's fighting like he's never fought before!
No point man walks before him and no man takes the rear,
no comrade stands beside him though death is always near!
He humps no hills or valleys and he sweats no jungle heat.
He stalks no Vils or cities, yet has no road to retreat.
His field pack long abandoned and his rifle gone to rust,
The Silent Warrior battles, because, he has no choice, he must!
It's a long range operation, the objective long and hard,
to the Valley of the Shadow, where only Angels are.
The Silent Warrior battles, where no soul should have to go,
and no heart can ever reach him, for his battlefield's unknown!
Don't look to the north or south, don't look west or east, look
to home and know the truth, this is where the warrior bleeds!
His campaigns rage in silence, and he battles here at home,
his courage goes unnoticed and his valor, few have known!
Behold the Silent Warrior, lost deep within his thoughts,
his body frozen solid, never never to unlock!
What enemy could do this, what hearts could be so cold,
to do him such dishonor, a brother of our own!
I look into unseeing eyes and I wonder where he is,
and damn the souls who were taught to care, yet did a thing like
this!
Behold this valiant warrior, who never more shall speak,
curled up in a fetal ball on antiseptic sheets!
His arms and legs contracted, his body old and frail
his honor stripped away and lost where love should not have
failed!
Look gently on this old one, who battles day and night,
and let every warrior cry for him, until Valhalla's in his sights.
For such are the forgotten, not dead yet not alive,
doing battle on the Veterans wards beyond uncaring eyes!
Behold the Silent Warrior, who's stillness screams with rage,
who wars in fields of solitude, and there, til death, he stays!
I have touched the Silent Warrior, and learned to know his pain,
I have fed and I have bathed him, and cried when no one came!
I have reached down to his anger and held his ruined hands,
and I felt the battle raging, and I cursed, "God damn!"
Behold the Silent Warrior, who battles until death,
honor him and know his face, stand guard beside his bed.
For such are the forgotten, some lost and some abused,
victims of a friendly fire we never can undo.
Yes, the Fire fights have ended, and the big guns no longer roar,
but the Silent Warriors fighting like he never fought before!
Go to him, and speak his name, and understand the truth,
don't let him die behind the lines, the next warrior could be you!
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 12
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Murphy's list continues to grow!
Anonymous
A special THANKS to Dave Doehrman and Khe Sanh Vets Newsletter;
Springfield, MA VVA Chapter 111; Lt. Col Jack Finch USA (Ret.) and
members of the VIETNAM_VETS International Echo for helping us keep
Murphy's list growing! Okay... now all we need is to have our
Desert Shield/Desert Storm folks let us know how Murphy treated
them? How's about it, folks?
- An Incomplete List of Murphy's Laws of Combat Operations -
1. Military intelligence can be a contradiction in terms.
2. Recoilless rifles - aren't.
3. A sucking chest wound is nature's way of telling you to slow
down.
4. The enemy diversion you are ignoring is the main attack.
5. If the enemy is within range, then so are you.
6. Friendly fire - isn't.
7. If it's stupid and works, then it ain't stupid.
8. When you have secured an area, don't forget to tell the enemy.
9. If you're short of everything except the enemy, then you're in
the combat zone.
10. Try to look unimportant. They may be low on ammo.
11. The easy way is always mined.
12. Tracers work both ways.
13. Sh*t happens.
14. Incoming fire has the right of way.
15. Teamwork is essential. It gives them other people to shoot at.
16. Never draw fire - it irritates everyone around you.
17. No combat ready unit has ever passed an inspection.
18. No inspection ready unit has ever passed combat.
19. Make it too tough for the enemy to get in and you can't get
out.
20. If both sides are convinced they're about to lose, they're
both right.
21. Professionals are predictable, but the world is full of
dangerous amateurs.
22. Fortify your front and you'll get your rear shot up.
23. When in doubt, empty your magazine.
24. In war, important things are very simple and all simple things
are hard.
25. Don't look conspicuous, it draws fire.
26. Communications will fail as soon as you need fire support.
27. Weather ain't neutral.
28. Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than you.
29. Remember, your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.
30. If you can't remember, the claymore is pointed towards you.
31. All five second grenade fuses are three seconds.
32. The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is
incoming friendly.
33. If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush.
34. No OPLAN survives first contact intact.
35. If it flies, it dies.
36. When you are forward of your position, the artillery will
always be short.
37. Suppressive fire - won't.
38. You are not Superman.
39. Cavalry doesn't always come to the rescue.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 13
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
40. B-52's are the ultimate in close air support.
41. Sniper's motto: Reach out and touch someone.
42. Peace is our profession - mass murder's just a hobby.
43. Killing for peace is like whoring for virginity.
44. There's always a way.
45. Murphy was a grunt.
46. It's not the one with your name on it - it's the round
addressed "to whom it may concern" ya gotta think about.
47. Remember napalm is an area weapon.
48. Mines are equal opportunity weapons.
50. There is no such thing as the perfect plan.
51. The enemy invariably attacks on two occasions:
a. when you are ready for them.
b. when you are not ready for them.
52. Anything you do can get you shot, including nothing.
53. Marine math: 2 beers times 39 Marines is 49 cases.
54. Body Count Math: 2 VC plus 1 chicken and 3 pigs equals 37
enemy killed in action.
55. Things that must be together to work, can't be carried in the
field that way.
56. If you take more than your share of objectives, you will be
given more than your share of objectives to take.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 14
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
SERMON FROM MOUNT DONG QUANG
(as re-told by Mike Dealey)
MATTHEW five-five:
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall not be selected
for night patrol."
MATTHEW five-six:
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall fly B-52s."
MATTHEW five-seven:
"Blessed are the merciful, for it gives you time to
grease the suckers."
MATTHEW five-eight:
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for it shall be they who
clean the sh_tters every day."
MATTHEW five-niner:
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called
children of God and score beaucoup acid."
[This was neatly handwritten on what appeared to be a
mimeographed copy. Circa 1969, I'd judge. Author(s)
unknown.]
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 15
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
Heart to heart...
==================================================================
We Honor The Hidden Casualties of War
By Al Santoli
The Tampa Tribune/Tampa Times 10/23/94
"Heads Up" By Judee & Jerry Strott
VETLink #1 BBS - Tampa, FL
(813) 249-8323
With 58,191 names inscribed on its black granite, the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., is one of the nation's most
hallowed monuments to its war dead.
Yet not all of the victims of that war died in battle. Some have
died -- or are still dying -- of exposure to herbicides like Agent
Orange, of post-traumatic stress disorders and of other war-
related conditions. Now a way has been found to honor these
hidden casualties of war.
Last year, the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a private
organization, launched a program called In Memory. It recognizes
these "lost veterans" by displaying their names on a special honor
roll at the memorial site.
"The deaths of those veterans," said Mary Meyer, the program
coordinator, "are no less tragic than casualties on the
battlefields of Southeast Asia. The lack of tribute for these men
and women has been especially painful for their loved ones. We
hope that public recognition will be a healing process to help
families find closure with the suffering they have endured."
New inductees, nominated by their families, will be added to the
list at public ceremonies every Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
All services are provided free.
Susie McDowell, 43, a mother of two teenage girls, said at the
ceremonies held last Memorial Day: "Recognition here gives
meaning to all that my husband went through."
Her husband of 17 years, Donald "Mac" McDowell - a former mailman
in Moorhead, Minn -- was awarded a Purple Heart for combat wounds
suffered in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division. Exposed to
Agent Orange, he died in 1993 after a 15-year battle with
lymphoma.
One of his most cherished wishes was that his name be inscribed on
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. "Mac's best friend, Dave Holsen,
tried every way possible to get his name inscribed," said Mrs.
McDowell, "but we found that the memorial excludes most veterans
who died following their return home."
After nearly giving up hope, Holsen learned about the In Memory
program. As a result, Mac was among the first group of veterans
honored at the program's inaugural ceremony.
Each In Memory veteran is represented by a certificate and family-
donated mementos that are ceremonially placed at the base of the
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 16
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
memorial wall. Afterward, the materials are collected and
archived by the National Park Service as part of the memorial's
permanent historical record. In addition, the Friends maintain an
information booth at the memorial's entrance, where a leather-
bound In Memory album is available to the public 24 hours a day.
At the Friends' office in Arlington, VA., the executive director,
Ira Hamburg, said the program was initiated because of the high
number of post-Vietnam casualties. Veterans organizations say
that several thousand Americans involved in the fighting have died
from war-related wounds, cancers from herbicide exposure, suicides
linked to post-traumatic stress disorders and other causes.
One name added recently was that of the author Lewis Puller, Jr.,
who died by his own hand following years of painful disabilities.
He was the son of Lt. Gen. Lew "Chesty" Puller, the most decorated
Marine in the history of the corps.
The program's coordinators emphasize that helping surviving
families to heal is a foremost concern. In addition, the program
includes a tribute to civilians who were killed in Vietnam --
diplomatic employees, advisers, Red Cross volunteers and
journalists -- whose names are not eligible to appear on the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial. A referral service to link veterans
with In Memory families is being organized.
Wanda Ruffin, the Friends' coordinator of volunteers, is a
registered nurse and a grief counselor. Her husband, James, a
naval aviator, was killed in the war. "The families have shared
their loved one's suffering for many years," she said. "They have
been directly affected by his nightmares and by his physical or
emotional pain. It's very important for them to know that others
share their experience, that they are not alone. There is value
in honoring the veteran they loved. It's not just the loss that's
remembered, but the value of his life."
At the memorial site in Washington, D.D., Susie McDowell reflected
on coming to terms with her husband's sacrifice and finding the
strength to share with others. "So many families have felt
alone," she said. "Our husbands' being recognized here is truly
healing for those who loved them."
"Mac never begrudged the war," she added. "I don't know if he
wanted to be there. He was drafted. But, in the end, he's being
recognized for his service and for his 15 years of suffering
afterward. Without people like him, we wouldn't have the freedom
that we enjoy in this country today."
---
FOR MORE INFORMATION or an application form to honor a loved one,
contact: In Memory, Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial,
Dept. P, Suite 106, Box 108, 4200 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20016
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 17
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
I Was There Just Last Night
by Robert Clark
Issue Nine - 1994 * The High Ground
P O Box 457 - Neillsville, WI 54456
A couple of years ago someone asked me if I still thought about
Vietnam. I nearly laughed in their face. How do you stop
thinking about it? Every day for the last twenty-four years, I
wake up with it, and go to bed with it. But this is what I said.
"Yea, I think about it. I can't quit thinking about it. I never
will. But, I've also learned to live with it. I'm comfortable
with the memories. I've learned to stop trying to forget and
learned instead to embrace it. It just doesn't scare me anymore."
A psychologist once tome me that NOT being affected by the
experience over there would be abnormal. When he told me that, it
was like he'd just given me a pardon. It was as if he said, "Go
ahead and feel something about the place, Bob. It ain't going
nowhere. You're gonna wear it for the rest of your life. Might
as well get to know it."
A log of my "brothers" haven't been so lucky. For them the
memories are too painful, their sense of loss too great. My
sister told me of a friend she has whose husband was in the Nam.
She asks this guy when he was there. Here's what he said, "Just
last night." It took my sister a while to figure out what he was
talking about. JUST LAST NIGHT. Yeah I was in the Nam. When?
JUST LAST NIGHT. During sex with my wife. And on my way to work
this morning. Over my lunch hour. Yeah, I was there.
My sister says I'm not the same brother that went to Vietnam. My
wife says I won't let people get close to me, not even her.
They're probably both right.
Ask a vet about making friends in Nam. It was risky. Why?
Because we were in the business of death, and death was with us
all the time. It wasn't the death of, "If I die before I wake."
This was the real thing. The kind where boys scream for their
mothers. The kind that lingers in your mind and becomes more real
each time you cheat it. You don't want ot make a lot of friends
when the possibility of dying is that real, that close. When you
do, friends become a liability.
A guy named Bob Flanigan was my friend. Bob Flanigan is dead. I
put him in a body bag one sunny day, April 29, 1969. We'd been
talking, only a few minutes before he was shot, about what we were
going to do when we got back in the world. Now, this was a guy
who had come in country the same time as myself. A guy who was
loveable and generous. He had blue eyes and sandy blond hair.
When he talked, it was with a soft drawl. Flanigan was a hick and
he knew it. That was part of his charm. He didn't care. Man, I
loved this guy like the brother I never had. But, I screwed up. I
got too close to him. Maybe I didn't know any better. But I
broke one of the unwritten rules of war. DON'T GET CLOSE TO
PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO DIE. Sometimes you can't help it.
You hear vets use the term "buddy" when they refer to a guy they
spent the war with. "Me an this buddy a mine . . ." "Friend"
sounds too intimate, doesn't it. "Friend" calls up images of
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 18
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
being close. If he's a friend, then you are going to be hurt if
he dies, and war hurts enough without adding to the pain. Get
close; get hurt. It's as simple as that.
In war you learn to keep people at that distance my wife talks
about. You become so good at it, that twenty years after the war
is over, you still do it without thinking. You won't allow
yourself to be vulnerable again.
My wife knows two people who can get into the soft spots inside
me. My daughters. I know it probably bothers her that they can
do this. It's not that I don't love my wife, I do. She's put up
with a lot from me. She'll tell you that when she signed on for
better or worse she had no idea there was going to be so much of
the latter. But with my daughters it's different.
My girls are mine. They'll always be my kids. Not marriage, not
distance, not even death can change that. They are something on
this earth that can never be taken away from me. I belong to
them. Nothing can change that. I can have an ex-wife; but my
girls can never have an ex-father. There's the difference.
I can still see the faces, though they all seem to have the same
eyes. When I think of us I always see a line of "dirty grunts"
sitting on a paddy dike. We're caught in that first gray silver
between darkness and light. That first moment when we know we've
survived another night, and the business of staying alive for one
more day is about to begin. There was so much hope in that brief
space of time. It's what we used to pray for. "One more day,
God. One more day."
And I can hear our conversations as if they'd only just been
spoken. I still hear the way we sounded, the hard cynical jokes,
our morbid senses of humor. We were scared to death of dying, and
trying our best not to show it.
I recall the smells, too. Like the way cordite hangs on the air
after a fire-fight. Or the pungent odor of rice paddy mud. So
different from the black dirt of Iowa. The mud of Nam smells
ancient, somehow. Like it's always been there.
And I'll never forget the way blood smells, stick and drying on my
hands. I spent a long night that way once. That memory isn't
going anywhere.
I remember how the night jungle appears almost dream like as the
pilot of a Cessna buzzes overhead, dropping parachute flares until
morning. That artificial sun would flicker and make shadows run
through the jungle. It was worse than not being able to see what
was out there sometimes. I remember once looking at the man next
to me as a flare floated overhead. The shadows around his eyes
were so deep that it looked like his eyes were gone. I reached
over and touched him on the arm; without looking at me he touched
my hand. "I know man. I now." That's what he said. It was a
human moment. Two guys a long way from home and scared sh*tless.
"I know man." And at that moment he did.
God I loved those guys. I hurt every time one of them died. We
all did. Despite our posturing. Despite our desire to stay
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 19
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
disconnected, we couldn't hep ourselves. I know why Tim O'Brien
writes his stories. I know what gives Bruce Weigle the words to
create poems so honest I cry at their horrible beauty. It's love.
Love for those guys we shared the experience with.
We did our jobs like good soldiers, and we tried our best not to
become as hard as our surroundings. We touched each other and
said, "I know." Like a mother holding a child in the middle of a
nightmare, "It's going to be all right." We tried not to lose
touch with our humanity. We tried to walk that line. To be the
good boys our parents had raised and not to give into that unnamed
thing we knew was inside us all.
You want to know what frightening is? It's a nineteen-year-old-
boy who's had a sip of that power over life and death that war
gives you. It's a boy who, despite all the things he's been
taught, knows that he likes it. It's a nineteen-year-old who's
just lost a friend, and is angry and scared and, determined that,
"Some *@#*s gonna pay." To this day, the thought of that boy can
wake me from a sound sleep and leave me staring at the ceiling.
As I write this, I have a picture in front of me. It's of two
young men. One their laps are tablets. One is smoking a
cigarette. Both stare without expression at the camera. They're
writing letters. Staying in touch with places they would rather
be. Places and people they hope to see again.
The picture shares space in a frame with one of my wife. She
doesn't mind. She knows she's been included in special company.
She knows I'll always love those guys who shared that part of my
life, a part she never can. And she understands how I feel about
the ones I know are out there yet. The ones who still answer the
question, "When were you in Vietnam?"
"Hey, man. I was there just last night."
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 20
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Veterans Day at The Wall 11/11/94
By Gustav Niebuhr - New York Times
Submitted by Jeff Beer
VETLink #50 - Fairfield Bay, AR
(501) 884-6277
WASHINGTON -- Americans have long revered places that they link to
the shaping of their national identity: the bridge at Concord, the
Alamo, the hulk of the battleship Arizona at Pearl Harbor. Few
pieces of ground are so hallowed as Gettysburg, where the Civil
War battle and Lincoln's address paired national unity and purpose
in a way that is seen as almost mystical.
But veneration occasionally imparts something more to a hallowed
site: a spiritual dimension that transforms it into something like
a sacred shrine, where pilgrims come and devotions are paid. For
generations, Gettysburg was such a place. The Vietnam Veterans
Memorial, several scholars of religion and culture say, is
becoming one now.
''It's an altar,'' said Conrad Cherry, director of the Center for
the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University-
Purdue University at Indianapolis. ''You approach it with
reverence and respect and silence. The supreme sacrifice is very
much there.''
The memorial's appearance is starkly dramatic. A pair of black
polished granite walls, devoid of all but rows of names of the
58,196 American men and women who died in Vietnam, are set into
the ground of the Washington Mall so that they are invisible from
the rear. The walls meet to form a V, its arms embracing a broad,
sloping piece of ground to create a thin boundary that narrowly
separates the living from the dead.
Controversial for its unconventional design when it was unveiled
in 1982, the memorial for years has drawn more visitors than
either the Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial.
''People make pilgrimages -- which is what people do at the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial -- to be transformed intellectually and
spiritually at a place of power,'' said Edward Linenthal, a
professor of religion and American culture at the University of
Wisconsin, at Oshkosh, who is the author of ''Sacred Ground:
Americans and Their Battlefields'' (University of Illinois Press).
Visitors often approach the memorial in a reverential hush. Some,
park rangers say, are so overcome with emotion that they stop in
their tracks, never to come closer. Some touch names inscribed in
the walls. Many leave personal items: photographs, stuffed
animals, combat boots, or other tokens of a life.
Authorities on religion and culture liken this to people's
behavior at sites considered holy in a religious sense: Lourdes,
the Western Wall in Jerusalem, major Buddhist shrines.
''The kinds of things people do there,'' Linenthal said, ''are
acts of commemoration -- touching the names, leaving flowers,
photos, flags. Those are the things people do in sacred places.''
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 21
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
THAT IS NOT what the monument's creators envisioned, but they are
certainly intrigued by it. ''Here's essentially what is designed
to be a military memorial commemorating people who took part in a
military effort, and it's been transformed into a national shrine,
where all these feelings come alive,'' said Jan C. Scruggs,
president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the former
infantry corporal who led the campaign for a memorial to the
Vietnam dead.
Because today is Veterans Day, when attendance at the memorial is
particularly heavy, Ron Stufflebean of St. Joseph, Mo., worked
there as a Park Service volunteer all this week. He said many
people who stand for a while looking at an individual name often
say they ''can see the reflection of that person in the granite.''
His wife, Paula, said the couple had known men whose names are
listed there. Last year, she made a Christmas wreath, decorated
it with a wedding bouquet and handmade baby booties, and brought
it to the memorial. ''I typed up a letter,'' she said, ''and
framed it and put it in the wreath. It said, 'For all the men and
women, for what they missed in life.' ''
Such gifts have set the memorial apart from most secular
monuments, instead inviting comparisons to religious shrines.
''It's a way to communicate with people who died,'' said George
Mayo, a Washington lawyer who is a director of the memorial fund.
And, he said, because many visitors also bring along tracing paper
to make impressions of individual names, ''you take away part of
the memorial with you.''
Since the memorial opened 12 years ago, visitors have left more
than 30,000 items, said Duery Felton, a Vietnam veteran who serves
as curator of these objects for the Park Service, which collects,
catalogs, and stores all but the flowers, since they are
perishable.
On Wednesday afternoon, objects placed at the memorial included
several bouquets; four copies of a poem, each addressed to a
different soldier; a photograph of a young girl; and a small stack
of metal bracelets engraved with the names of prisoners of war.
Morris Brevard, a ranger at the memorial who served as a Marine in
the invasion of Panama and the Persian Gulf war, said that he had
come across athletic trophies, military medals, a tomahawk, and a
half-empty wine bottle with two glasses. Brevard said that one
woman had once brought small cans of fruit cocktail -- a favorite
of her son, whose name is among the thousands -- and that another
had brought a birthday cake and lighted a candle.
''It's a place of healing,'' he said. ''It's a place of
remembrance.''
WALKING WITH a visitor the length of the memorial, Brevard passed
its apex, where the list of names rises highest. ''You notice how
quiet it got at the center?'' he said.
Others too have commented on this. The Rev. Philip Salois, who was
an infantryman in Vietnam and is now a Roman Catholic priest,
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 22
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
likened the experience to that of visiting a cemetery. ''Everybody
speaks in hushed tones,'' said Salois, chief of chaplain services
at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in Boston. ''It's that
aura of mystique, that mysticism.''
Thomas A. Tweed, a professor of religious studies at the
University of North Carolina, observed that ''almost any time you
go, someone is there grieving.'' That keeps fresh the memory of
Vietnam itself, he said.
''That's the way a lot of shrines work,'' Tweed said. ''It's very
powerful, very fundamental stuff.''
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 23
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Family Ties
By Gjoseph Peck
NamVet's Managing Editor
VETLink #1 - Tampa, FL
(813) 249-8323
NamVet 2-4 2 Apr 1988
Gently, so as not to make too much noise, she approaches the black
granite that rises, behemoth-like, from the grassy Washington
Mall. She feels better coming alone and at night.
On her left, appearing as if it would speak at any moment, is the
Lincoln Memorial; light seeming to come from nowhere makes it as
though a beacon in the darkness. To her right, towering high, is
the Washington Monument. She can hear the precise steps of the
military honor guard as it performs its vigilant duty at The Wall.
A National Park Service attendant, small light shining on the
Directory of Names, stands somber watch.
"Wilbee Simmons, Sir? Could you tell me where I'd find his name
listed?" The Park Attendant directs her to the west panels.
Slowly, fearfully, yet mustering every bit of her strength, Teri
looks carefully for the name of her husband.
There's something about the way the Washington lights reflect from
The Wall that remind her of the song Wilbee dedicated to her way
back when they were only in their early years of high school.
Building; preparing; steeling herself for the moment that HAS to
come, she quietly hums to herself their familiar tune: "Ca-atch a
falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away...
Ca-atch a.." - and then she came upon it.
Hand shaking almost uncontrollably, she reaches over and begins to
trace the letters... W I L . . . Eyes watering, it starts.
Release. Blessed release. She hasn't cried like this since she'd
received the telegram. She'd had to be strong for the kids sake.
Now she can let the tears - and Wilbee - go.
"Wilbee, Darling, you ARE a part of American history, a living
part. Here's John's name; and Gary's; and Jim's ... all of the
soldiers you wrote me about. Each of you followed your fathers
and family into service - and America's defense. Your brothers
and sisters who made it back took upon their shoulders the battle
begun by their grandfathers after World War I helping America to
always, always keep her promise to care for those who put their
lives on-the-line for her. Everyone says that you and all Vietnam
veterans are the toughest, most persistent and determined veterans
in all American history - and they're right! It's guys like you
and your friends who gave EVERYTHING, Wilbee, and those who made
it back, who help continue building the America we have today, and
the responsible care for America's veterans that our grandfathers
fought for.
I remember when they used to tell us how the veterans of World War
I were put on what we today would call the welfare rolls and
looked down upon - and nearly every benefit they sought was
denied. The inadequate War Risk Bureau, Board of Vocational
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 24
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Training and Public Health Services, in addition to so much more
insensitivity, denial, and corruption of the Federal Government,
made them march on Washington. I know you saw your brothers and
sisters do a similar thing when they all came here to sharply prod
the conscience of America and this monument was dedicated. I can
tell you're part of the same family - only you're tougher.
I brought the poem you wrote when you went to 'Nam, Wilbee. I
remember how much it meant to you. I've saved it all these years
- and I'll leave it here for you when I go. I've got it
memorized. It's Easter now, a time of new beginnings, a time to
get on with living my life in a way that would make you proud of
me, a time to take the best that you've given - and go forward.
I'm glad I got the chance to come here - to visit, to remember, to
use those "Falling Stars" you and I put in our pockets years ago;
many rainy days I've used them. Somehow, I have a little more
strength now to help me through my life.
Thank you, Wilbee Simmons. Remember I'll always love you and the
sacrifices you made for me and everybody."
Stepping back from the polished granite, Teri softly places a card
from her and the two children, a flag, some flowers, and the
often-read 12-line poem on the ground in front of Wilbee Simmons
name:
"America"
This is my country! So beautiful and Free!
A Land of Freedom for you and me!
Where men have fought and men have died
So that we may LIVE and share their pride;
That this Country of ours, so great and strong,
May unite again and sing a together song!
Let us be brothers and join together
To make our Nation - just a little better
May we learn to forgive and forget our hates
And never close our shining gates ...
May Liberty's torch light the world around
And in ALL the nations - may Freedom's echo resound!
Teri turned, began to walk away. A bright flash in the western
sky quickly caught her eye. A falling star - streaking, as though
an arrow, over the Lincoln Memorial.
And she remembered the words Lincoln once said: "To care for him
who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his
children."
"Maybe tomorrow I'll ask the Veterans Administration if they can
help. After all, my husband did give his life - and our children
did give their father - so that we could all continue to live in
freedom. Why didn't I think of that before?"
Humming to herself another one of their old-time favorites,
"That's the story of, that's the glory of... Love", Teri moves
along the walkway towards the Washington city lights...
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 25
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Millions of Veterans are Counting on Congress
To make certain veterans' health-care is a partner in health-care
reform.
The personal price of war is high. It can last a lifetime. In
fact, many who served our country in time of need, now are in need
themselves. For millions of veterans VA is a vital, irreplaceable
health-care resource.
As you debate national health-care reform:
* Veterans who choose VA must be assured - just like all
other Americans - they will receive a guaranteed,
comprehensive benefits package. Congress must reform
VA's spotty and inefficient eligibility system.
* Veterans must know VA funding always will be there to
provide the services they need.
* Veterans must be assured VA will receive resources
necessary to correct years of inadequate funding and
revamp its service delivery system.
* Veterans must be confident that VA will maintain its
unique specialized missions in rehabilitation,
prosthetics, spinal cord injury, blindness, aging,
mental health and long-term care.
* Veterans must know the VA health-care system will
continue to be a major national asset in medical
education and research, and a vital back-up to
Department of Defense medicine in time of national
emergency.
The American Legion
AMVETS (American Veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam)
Blinded Veterans Association
Disabled American Veterans
Jewish War Veterans of the USA
Military Order of the Purple Heart of the U.S.A., Inc.
Non Commissioned Officers Association of the USA
Paralyzed Veterans of America
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States
Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 26
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
Let my people go!
==================================================================
MIA/POWs. Does anyone REALLY care?
By Paul Bylin
NamVet's MIA/POW Section Editor
VETLink #84 - Peabody, MA
(508) 977-9756
As I write this article, I am sitting in my office enjoying a cool
breeze on one of the hottest summer days to hit this area in many
years.
The cool breeze reminds me of some of the quiet nights in Vietnam.
I can still remember being in a bunker, watching the sun go down,
and enjoying the breeze. One of the few pleasures.
I can also remember, on those same nights, when the sun was down
and the moon was high. The clearness of the sky. How bright the
stars seemed to be. When I looked at the stars, I would wonder if
my family or friends were looking at that same star as I was. It
kind of made me feel a little closer to home, where I wanted to
be. At 18 years old, I didn't know much, but I did know that I
did not want to be there. Although I was there, with some guys
that I will never forget. My brothers.
But, I survived my time in Vietnam, like many others. Only to
come home to another kind of war. A war in which, I felt I was
the enemy. People making accusations, and some refusing jobs to
us. I couldn't understand why, and I still don't. So whenever I
was asked about my military service on a job application, I would
put down my service. With one exception. I would never say I
served in Vietnam. Ashamed? Maybe.
Many years had come and gone. I had changed jobs more times than
I can remember. Then one day, I settled down with a job as an
aircraft re-fuel mechanic. Been at that job for about 18 years.
During the summer of 1991, I found myself staring at a pretty
dingy looking photograph of three flyers that were, supposedly,
still alive in Vietnam. As I read the story, what the families
had been going through since the end of the war.....I felt some of
the feelings I had when I was there. Jesus, I have to do
something....but what?
The thoughts, the smell, the "feel" of Vietnam had never left me.
Not for a day. I seldom talked about any of this with anyone. No
one cared then. They sure as hell don't give a damn now. So why
even try.
Many thoughts started racing through my mind as I stared at that
photograph. What the hell is going on? Why haven't we brought
these guys home?? What is being done??
For a few days, I guess you could say I had "gone away" in my
mind. Thinking, wondering about this...what can I do?? Can I do
ANYTHING??
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 27
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
My brother-in-law and I had not spoken in probably 15 years or so.
My wife was talking to her sister one day and was telling her
about what was happening to me. A few nights later, my brother-
in-law was at my door wanting to talk to me about what was going
on. I guess you could say he pointed me in the right direction.
We became a "team" when it came to the POW/MIA issue.
Petitions, local TV shows, hundreds upon hundreds of letters
written. None of this was having an affect on anyone. Meetings
with two Congressmen, demanding, pleading, talking with reporters,
calling radio talk shows. NO ONE really CARES. Not even the
President. He did lift the trade embargo against Vietnam. He did
this with the advice of a couple of Vietnam veterans who felt they
knew what was best for the families of the missing. After all,
what do the families know? They don't have a seat in the Senate.
One of those Vietnam veterans, is Senator John Kerry from
Massachusetts. He advised President Clinton to lift the trade
embargo because of the "cooperation" the Vietnamese were giving
us.
I wonder if the "good" Senator did that because he felt in his
heart that the Vietnamese REALLY were cooperating to their best
capability? Or, could it be that the "good" Senator has family
that is in Vietnam, handling many of the industrial real estate
deals, now that he got the trade embargo lifted?
Sitting here in my office, enjoying the cool breeze. Wondering,
still, what can I do? Does ANYONE care?? Looking outside the
window, I see the moon is high in the sky. As I look at the first
star I see, I wonder? Are any still alive? If so, are they
looking at the same star as I am? What can I do?
Paul Bylin
MIA/POW Section Editor
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 28
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
DOES ONE PERSON'S EFFORT REALLY COUNT to a POW or MIA?
By Jose Proenza Sanfiel
VETLink #1 - Tampa, FL
(813) 249-8323
The above question has been asked by many and it has been
answered by very few the reason it seem's to be that every one has
doubts to their abilities and some few do decide to act therefore
making a difference.
Friends I'm trying to ensure that the Quote: POW's & MIA's you
are not forgotten!! Does not become a meaningless cliche.
Friends I'm trying to ensure that the POW's & MIA's message gets
carried to the doorstep of all Americans and to the hands of every
foreigner that holds a map of the USA.
My plan is simple and sure. To rename Interstates throughout the
nation that will bear the name. POW's & MIA's Interstate's one
from the South Eastern most corner of the US to the North Western
Corner of the US. The other From the South Western most part of
the US to the North Eastern corner of the US. These Interstates
would crisscross at the Imaginary Heart of America (St Louis Mo)
and in this manner we could remind ourselves and the Folks abroad
that we Really do not forget our Heroes's.
I NEED HELP FROM EACH AND EVERY ONE THAT HAS EVER ASKED.
WILL MY EFFORT REALLY COUNT?
Well friend I asked myself the question and answered it by
taking action. Such action led to my Home address (St) to be
renamed POW's & MIA's MEMORIAL DR.... THE SAME EFFORT LED ME TO
HAVE THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE NAME US-1 FROM KEY WEST TO THE
GEORGIA BORDER ALSO... POW's & MIA's MEMORIAL HWY.
My efforts also have on the Senate of the US a legislative bill
(S-900) that will make this dream of mine a reality.
BUT AND ONLY IF.... .... I could reach a few dedicated Americans
that are willing to take a few minutes and request that their
Senator's and Congressperson Unite themselves with Senator Connie
Mack(r) From Fla. to co-sponsor Senate Bill 900. This dedicated
American's must be willing to write not only one letter but to
continue bugging their Legislator until he/she does become a Co-
sponsor of the bill.
I need the Help of my fellow Americans out there to do this
because I have done everything possible that could be done so it
is really up to others. AND THAT IS YOU !!!!!
WHAT DAMN GOOD IS NAMING A FEW INTERSTATES GOING TO DO TO BRING
THE BOY'S HOME???
Then think about this.... EVEN JESUS CHRIST HAD A MESSENGER
THAT PREPARED THE ROAD FOR HIS ARRIVAL. (is in the bible look it
up if you wish ).
Friends I appreciate all the suggestions (please don't stop) but
I really have gone the whole route... regardless of how you think
I should do this or whom should I write it will all be for nothing
if you do not take it upon yourself to write to Washington D.C.
until they Co-Sponsor the Bill and if you do not take it upon
yourself to tell others in your home State.
I NEED YOUR HELP. I HAVE NEVER ASKED FOR YOUR MONEY. I HAVE NEVER
ASKED YOU TO JOIN THE INTERSTATE GROUP OR ANY OTHER GROUP.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 29
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
ALL THAT I ASK IS WRITE AND TELL OTHER'S ABOUT THE POW's & MIA's
PROJECT INTERSTATE AND ITS NEED.
TO DATE THERE ARE ONLY THREE SENATORS CO-SPONSORING THIS BILL SO
UNLESS YOU ACT NOTHING WILL BE DONE.
WILL YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE.... ONLY YOU CAN TELL....
For More information send LEGAL SIZED S.A.S.E TO:
POW's & MIA's PROJECT INTERSTATE
4230 POW's & MIA's MEMORIAL DR
ST CLOUD FLA USA 34772-8142
407-892-9006 VOICE / 407-957-MIAS Fax & data
SASE Means Self addressed Self Stamped Envelope if you don't send
one you will get an answer when ever I can spring a few beans from
my family's budget (since I don't ask for donations under guise of
POW's & MIA's sake).
You send a SASE well it gets send out in spurts but much quicker
than if you did not.
God Bless America. God bless America Again and may God Bless our
POW's & MIA's.
Semper Fi.
Cpl Pro.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 30
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
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" Bring them home --- NOW !!! "
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 31
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
How will the Vietnam War end?
By Paul Bylin
NamVet's MIA/POW Section Editor
VETLink #84 - Peabody, MA
(508) 977-9756
There have been committee's that have investigated the POW/MIA
issue, and all have come to the same conclusion..."Men were left
behind, but we have no evidence that shows any survived." If men
were left behind, do we have evidence they are NOT alive?
This country has evidence that many were alive after the end of the
war. As a matter of fact, the United States Government has
evidence that men were still alive in the late 1980's and early
1990's. The evidence they have are satellite photographs of `Pilot
Authenticator Codes'. Each pilot was assigned their own individual
Authenticator Code. The purpose was for the identification of a
pilot, if they were shot down. The pilot had been instructed to
make this code visible. They were to do it in such a manner that
it could be seen from the air, but yet, not be seen by the enemy.
Many of these locator codes had been photographed by government
satellites. These locator codes were correlated to the pilot that
was shot down. Some locator codes were photographed not once but
twice, and not in the same area. The reason could be that the
prisoner had been moved. Normal procedure for the Vietnamese. All
these photographs of locator codes were dismissed by the
government. They said they were either shadows, plant growth, or
the best one anomalies, which Websters describes as 1. departure
from the regular arrangement. (Although the government says
anomalies is "something that is not there.") Many experts that have
examined the images found in the satellite photography agree that
they are real, not just shadows or vegetation growth.
One authenticator code, the USA K code, that was found stamped into
a rice paddy in Laos, had been ignored for more that a year before
any type of investigation had been implemented.
One of Senator Kerry's trips to Southeast Asia was to investigate
this issue. He visited a prison camp, and while there, he found a
message written in English on a wall in one of the cells. It was
dated April 23, 1988, and read, "We do live under the darkness of
Socialist hands now - We don't have a chance". This was not widely
publicized and was not brought up at the senators' news conference.
So much of this evidence, however small it may seem, is exactly
what it appears to be...evidence. Even the Senate Select Committee
on POW MIA Affairs, with all the controversy that had surrounded
it, came to the conclusion that men WERE left behind after the war
ended. The committee did also say they had no evidence that any
particular American is still alive.
And so the committee ended.
Senator Kerry and Senator John McCain (another former panel member
of the Senate Select Committee on POW MIA Affairs) fought hard to
get an amendment passed by congress so President Clinton could lift
the economic trade embargo against Vietnam.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 32
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
On February 2, 1994 President Clinton was holding a press
conference at the White House. A reporter asked him if he was
going to lift the 19-year old economic trade embargo against
Vietnam. The presidents response was, "I do not know, I haven't
even read the Kerry - McCain Amendment yet." The very next
morning, President Bill Clinton lifted the trade embargo against
Vietnam. The president said he believed that Vietnam was
cooperating as much as possible.
If the Vietnamese are cooperating as much as the president, and
Senator John Kerry claim, then why won't the Vietnamese government
tell us what happened to the men that we KNOW were captured, but
never returned?
The Vietnamese have turned over, literally, thousands of
photographs of American servicemen. Some of these men were
photographed after they were killed. But, still, their bodies were
laid out, pockets emptied, and all their personal belongings were
photographed. This was for the Vietnamese records. They wanted to
be able to account for these people some day. What other reason
would there be for this type of records? They wanted to be able to
prove some of the Americans they captured had died.
But what about the Americans that they held in captivity after the
war? What type of records did they keep on them?
I am sure they are NO LESS than the records they kept on the ones
that died.
Is the United States government asking for these records? If
not...then why the hell not??
If they are asking about these records, what are the Vietnamese
telling them? Surely, if they are saying they don't have any, they
must be lying. One would have to assume that because throughout
the years, Vietnam insisted they had `no records' of any Americans.
But, they have their museums full of photographs of American POWs,
their weapons, parts of aircraft, uniforms, rings, watches, etc,
etc. The list goes on and on.
While in Vietnam investigating the POW issue, former congressman
Billy Hendon stumbled on a hidden prison. A prison that, back in
the 1980's had supposedly held American prisoners. Mr. Hendon
asked to visit and inspect that prison. Not only did the
Vietnamese deny his request, they also said his visa had expired,
and told him he would have to leave the country. The Vietnamese
not only said he (Billy Hendon) could not go inside the prison, but
also said they would NOT allow the U.S. governments MIA team inside
the facility.
But we continue to help the Vietnamese government. Why? Where is
the cooperation so many U.S. politicians speak of?
We cannot let this POW/MIA issue end in this manner. If there is
even a remote possibility that Vietnam is holding, or knowing
where, a live American is being held, we should share no expense in
bringing them home.
Ones that were known to have been captured alive, but never
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 33
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
returned, the Vietnamese government knows where their remains are.
To simply put it, If Vietnam has, or knows where any live Americans
are being held. Give them back. If all are no longer alive, then
give us their remains or a reasonable explanation why they cannot
return their remains. Once that is done, then Vietnam and the
United States can do business in whatever manner they wish, without
any noise from the families and the veteran community.
Paul Bylin
MIA/POW Section Editor
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 34
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
U.S. GOVERNMENT COVER-UP EXPOSED
By Paul Bylin
NamVet's MIA/POW Section Editor
VETLink #84 - Peabody, MA
(508) 977-9756
Talking with Joyce Flory (VETLink 13), she asked me about the
Chicago chapter of VietNow selling a video about the POW issue. It
asked that the ad for this video be made available through
Newsletters, display racks, or sales tables in offices, etc.
While I normally do not do any advertising in this Newsletter, I
felt I should at least ask what this VietNow group was all about.
I faxed a letter to them asking what they were doing with regards
to the POW issue, other than selling the video. My response was a
phone call from Billy Hendon. He told me that this video was
important in a couple of ways. First, it would convince anyone
that seen it that, 1) the Vietnamese government held hundreds of
U.S. POWs in prison long after the war; and, 2) the U.S.
government knew about it and covered it up. Plus it would help
him in his constant investigations and search's in Vietnam.
If, after you view this video, your are not convinced that the
above statements (1 and 2) are true, then simply return the video
and your money will be refunded, NO QUESTIONS ASKED!
The video "U.S. Government Cover-Up Exposed", is proof that the
Vietnamese held hundreds of U.S. POWs. Many reported still alive
in the late 1980's.
Citing previously secret U.S. intelligence documents, this video
settles the question once and for all. See the shocking evidence
in a 2-hour videotaped intelligence briefing by former U.S.
Congressman Bill Hendon (R-NC) Mr. Hendon was a member of the U.S.
House POW/MIA Task Force, a Pentagon consultant on POW/MIA affairs
and an intelligence investigator assigned to the Senate Select
Committee on POW/MIA Affairs. Americas leading expert on the
Vietnamese prison system, he has appeared on 60 Minutes, Larry
King Live, 20/20, Today, Good Morning America, Donahue, Dateline
NBC, Unsolved Mysteries and on international television throughout
the world.
CALL TOLL FREE TO ORDER YOUR VIDEO TODAY BY CREDIT CARD:
1-800-POW-MIAS
Mail Orders:
POW Publicity Fund
PO Box 65500
Washington DC 20035
The cost is $19.95 plus $4.00 Shipping & Handling.
SEE THIS EXPLOSIVE INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING THAT PRESIDENT CLINTON'S
ADVISORS "REFUSED TO SEE" AT THE WHITE HOUSE ON SATURDAY, JANUARY
15, 1994.
The declassified U.S. Government intelligence in this briefing was
acquired from the department of defense, the CIA, The National
Archives and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
Paul Bylin
Editor
(I have already ordered my copy!)
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 35
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
VIETNAM CASUALTY INSCRIBED ON WALL 25 YEARS AFTER INJURY
The Salem Evening News
Saturday, October 29, 1994
Submitted by Paul Bylin
VETLink #84 - Peabody, MA
(508) 977-9756
Eerie, Pa. (AP) - Lee R. Schaaf lived for more than two decades
carrying a piece of the Vietnam War in his heart, a bullet
eventually responsible for his death in 1990.
His widow, Mary Glass Schaaf, wanted his name added to the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. But it took her two years
to convince federal officials that her husbands death was the
result of his war wounds.
Next Month - 25 years after the enemy bullet lodged in his heart
during a jungle firefight - Schaaf's name will be added.
"He would be very upset with me," Mrs. Schaaf said. "He never
wanted any recognition, and never, ever asked for any sympathy."
The former infantryman's wife, the couple's three children and
about 30 other family members will visit Washington on Nov 11 for
a Veterans Day ceremony that will mark the additions of five
names. The actual etching of Schaaf's name is expected to be done
Wednesday.
Schaaf was wounded Sept. 5, 1969, as he walked at the head of a
patrol in the jungle near Xuan Loc, north of Ho Chi Minh City,
which then was called Saigon, Mrs. Schaaf said.
He received the Purple Heart and Army Commendation Medal. After
he returned home, he learned to walk with crutches and married his
high school sweetheart. He led an active life but endured
repeated hospital stays until his death at age 42 of a swollen,
infected heart and fluid in the lungs.
Since the memorial was dedicated in 1982, 257 names have been
added from thousands of applications, said Libby Hatch of the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which helps to maintain the wall.
The total stands at 58,196.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 36
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
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Seventh Annual NamVet Page 37
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
The NamVet Chapel
==================================================================
Proper Perspective!!
By: Rev. Oscar Wilkie
DAV National Chaplain
In: DAV Magazine - Vol 32, Issue 5
Input by: G. Joseph Peck
NamVet's Managing Editor
VETLink #1 - Tampa, FL
(813) 249-8323
Although I have been talking much in recent columns about
"success," most people will admit that "failure" is a more common
experience.
As I thought it over, it stimulated my thinking in this whole
area of "failure" and how we deal with it. It seems to me that
the hope for success and the fear of failure are perhaps the two
greatest burdens that most of us have to carry.
Ours is a "win-lose" culture: the ethos of our society invites,
motivates, and encourages us to be winners in life. We live in an
age of executive game players, super stars, Nobel Prize winners,
bionic celebrities, and successful entrepreneurs who have captured
our imagination and attention.
We all seem to feel the pressure to win at something, sometime,
somewhere. In such a culture, there seems to be no room for
anyone who fails... whether in sports, at the office, in the
classroom, or at home. We all sense this pressure to win at all
costs. I can relate to it in my own drive to be a "winner,"
whether on the golf course, in my profession, or as your (DAV)
National Chaplain.
Losing is depressing for most of us, but life does not afford us
the luxury of choosing whether or not we are going to play. We
know what it is to fail, and what we need is a way to redeem those
failures. We need to discover whatever there is to learn from our
losses. There are a couple of things I would share with you.
First, we need to learn that failure is a part of life. No one
succeeds at every contest. We need to discover that it is alright
to fail. If the cause is important, and if our efforts represent
our best, then we can find honor in having tried. It seems to me
that the ultimate tragedy in life is not failure. The ultimate
tragedy is to be unwilling to take risks when significant purposes
present themselves!
I think if someone is keeping score and "grading" us on life,
during the times we don't quite make it He gives us an
"incomplete" rather than a "failure." This means even when we
fail on occasion, we are not "failures," just "incomplete" in the
process of "becoming."
"Incomplete" means there is still room to grow. Often we learn
more from our defeats than from our victories. If we have the
right attitude, "win, lose, or draw" in our individual endeavors,
we can be moving forward!
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 38
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
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Seventh Annual NamVet Page 39
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
Prepared ... but not
==================================================================
OH, How Far It's Come
by Joyce Flory
NamVet's Incarcerated Veterans' Section Editor
Desert Dolphin/VETLink #13 - Las Cruces, New Mexico
(505) 523-2811 (Pre-Registration Required)
Back about September of 1989 a message thread was running in IVVEC
about incarcerated Vietnam veterans. I was curious as to how a
person went about finding a veteran to write to, maybe brighten a
day or two, or maybe send copies of the NAMVET newsletter. I
asked Gjoe how to go about this and was told, "Gee, Joyce, I don't
know. Why don't you look into it and let us know what you find
out."
Little did I know what I was about to get myself into (grin). I
collected the names and addresses of any and all organizations I
thought could help. I put together a form letter and sent out a
dozen or so of them. I got discouraged when the envelopes began
returning; "No Such Person", "No Such Address", or "Moved, No
Forwarding Address". Almost as bad were the letters telling me
that though they'd like to help, they didn't have any information.
I think the worst were the letters that told me the privacy act
would not allow them to release names or addresses of the
incarcerated.
I kept sending letters and waiting for replies. Finally, in
November, a letter arrived from the a national organization in
Washington D.C. I thought it was going to be another rejection,
but NO, a name, an address, a START! They told me this address
"fell through the cracks" and though I "didn't get it from them"
maybe it would help get me started.
Did it ever!!! I wrote to Mr. Whitmarsh Bailey in Buena Vista,
Colorado, explaining what I was trying to accomplish. In his kind
response, he gave me three more names. Those three gentleman put
me in touch with other inmates in other prisons and the program
grew. Not quickly, but by dribbles. The pen-pal list expanded
with each new letter that crossed my mailbox. Soon, someone sent
me a "phone-book" for the National Incarcerated Veterans Network.
My form letters started flying across the nation, four dozen
letters in the first mailing. Soon, the replies were making their
way back to me. So many incarcerated Vietnam veterans wanting to
be on my list!!
Many were just looking for someone to write to, some saying they'd
only write to single females, others looking for long-lost
buddies. Each so different, but so much the same. Today the list
has grown to over three hundred incarcerated vets in thirty-five
prisons spanning eighteen states. Two prisons in Alabama, one in
Arkansas, three in Colorado, one in Connecticut, four in Georgia,
two in Indiana, one in Kansas, four in Massachusetts, three in
Michigan, one in Missouri, two in New York, three in Nevada, one
in Ohio, one in Pennsylvania, one in Tennessee, two in Virginia,
two in Washington, and one in Wisconsin. Just when I think my
"reach" has stopped, another inmate from another prison drops a
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 40
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
note to me.
I've learned a lot about these gentlemen. The majority give
unselfishly of themselves and their time. Some men fill their
hours building doll houses and wooden toys to donate to Toys For
Tots or to be raffled off for local hospital funds for dying
children. Others put together fund raisers to collect monies to
buy food or wood for the less fortunate, year round, not just
during the Holidays. Still others sponsor the Special Olympics
teams in their area. I've been told of scholarship funding to
local colleges, clothing drives, and many "Scared Straight" type
programs they volunteer to take part in.
While involved in these programs, many have chosen to go back to
school. A few are finishing high school, some are taking what
college courses are available to them, a couple are lucky enough
to be able to carry a full course load in the field they'd like to
pursue after their release. They learn or teach trades; cabinet
making, woodworking, upholstering, and some construction work to
enable themselves to make a living on the "outside".
They are concerned with most of the same things you and I are.
The shrinking economy, politics, changes in world order. They put
together newsletters about VA updates, the MIA/POW issue, PTSD,
Agent Orange, relate stories, and write poems, much the same as
our NAMVET but with a much smaller readership.
I have, also, learned that they prefer to being called "Vietnam
veterans, incarcerated". They tell me they were Nam vets first,
incarcerated second. When not using that "title", they refer to
themselves as the "Forgotten Warriors", stating that once behind
bars, no one cares about them. Not their families, not their
friends, not other Vietnam veterans, not their government. They
can't get adequate health care, they are denied the counseling
they need for PTSD, their VA benefits are nowhere near what other
veterans get, if they can get them at all. And this just seems to
be the tip of the iceberg.
The more I wrote to these gentlemen, the more I became involved in
the issues that concern them. File upon file sits in my
"worktable" on this computer with information found at one prison
to be passed onto another. Copies of legislation, sometimes
laying dormant, before Congress, copies of, sometimes bogus,
programs for self-help in pre-release planning or PTSD treatment
are sent to me either just for my information or with a plea to
"Please look into to this".
All this from one simple, innocent question. What started out to
be the compiling of a list of Vietnam veterans, incarcerated
seeking pen-pals, has gone on to be so much more. With this
background of its beginnings, I'll be telling you next of how I'm
becoming an advocate (admittedly reluctantly, at first) on behalf
of these gentlemen and their incarcerated veteran concerns. For
me, it's already been an interesting journey, one that's just
begun.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 41
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Imprisoned Vietnam vets have voice
By Susan Greene
Review-Journal
Submitted by Joyce Flory
With Thanks to Avie Havelka-Caldwell
VETLink #13 - Las Cruces, NM
(505) 523-2811
* A Henderson woman publishes a magazine that addresses the
problems facing those who served.
Avie Havelka-Caldwell is the unlikeliest of publishers.
Having never touched a word processor before last year, the
cocktail waitress and self-described "biker chick" from Henderson
now finds herself working up to 60 hours a week to put together a
magazine for Vietnam veterans in prisons throughout the country.
"They are the other POWs who have been put behind walls and
forgotten," she said of the approximately 360,000 incarcerated
veterans of the Vietnam War. "This is about giving them a voice,
showing them that what they have to say matters."
Havelka-Caldwell's interest in veterans' and inmates' rights is a
very personal one.
Her husband, Bill Caldwell; a 44-year-old Marine veteran, has
bounced in and out of prisons since returning in 1970 from duty in
Vietnam. He is serving a four-year term for a parole violation at
the maximum-security federal prison in Leavenworth, Kan., where he
is vice president of the 40-inmate Chapter 75 of the Vietnam
Veterans of America.
In 1992, the chapter started a prisonwide newsletter called The
Voice of Incarcerated Veterans to address issues concerning its
members.
"It turned out that a lot of guys didn't even know there were
other veterans in here," said Caldwell during a recent telephone
interview from Leavenworth. "The newsletter brought a lot of us
together and gave a sense of camaraderie and brotherhood, a
feeling you had someone watching your back."
But, after the Vietnam Veterans of America and Leavenworth
officials objected to an article published in January about the
need for conjugal visits, the newsletter broke its affiliation
with the veterans organization and went independent. Havelka-
Caldwell then took over production, changing the editorial policy
to accept all submissions, regardless of writing style or
viewpoint, and making it the only nationally distributed
publication of its kind.
"I want it to open discussion between veterans, their families,
prison officials and anyone else concerned," she said. "When
people write me, even if they're semi-illiterate, I want to print
it exactly how they meant. I'm not about to censor anyone."
Havelka-Caldwell also changed the name of the magazine to The
Voice of Veterans, Incarcerated because, she said, "they were
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 42
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
veterans before they became inmates. That should come first."
In the seven months she's been publishing the magazine, she's
spent about $7,000 of her money for supplies and equipment. And,
with the help of friend Daren Dobrzensky - a computer consultant
from Henderson who also puts in dozens of hours each week editing
and formatting submissions - she has increased circulation from
800 inmates to 1,400 inmates and organizations throughout the
country.
Poems, essays and letters - written by everyone from murderers
doing life to 9-year-old nieces of veterans - address issues
ranging from the return of POW/MIAs to family visitation,
disability benefits, Agent Orange-related problems, post-traumatic
stress disorder, veterans' counseling and support groups, which
are available in most maximum security prisons.
In almost all submissions there is an undertone of frustration, a
long-endured feeling of anger and alienation stemming from a
difficult homecoming more than 20 years ago.
"A lot of us came home to being spit on," said Caldwell. "With
all that pain, the lies, the rigmarole the government put us
through, it's easy to see why we got in trouble."
For Dobrzensky, 36, working on the magazine has taught her about
what so many men have gone through since returning from duty in
Vietnam.
"I used to be under the impression that these guys wanted
something for nothing, that they felt they weren't responsible for
their crimes because society owed them something," she said. "But
now I see all they're asking for is just their rights as veterans
and a chance to get back on their feet."
"If this newsletter can help them achieve that, then we're doing
our job right."
[JOYCE'S NOTE: Date of article unknown]
==================================================================
JOYCE'S NOTE 2:
Articles and poems from this newsletter have been published in
past issues of NAM_VET.
If anyone would like to contribute, be it a submission or
monetary, or subscribe to this newsletter (from an issue of The
Voice of Veterans, Incarcerated):
The Voice of Veterans, Incarcerated is a non-profit organization.
The Voice of Veterans, Incarcerated is distributed free to all
incarcerated veterans of the Vietnam Conflict, but we still need
for you to complete and return the form below. Families and
others desiring to subscribe please submit $12.00 donation, cash,
check, money order to, The Voice of Veterans, Incarcerated 631 N.
Stephanie Street Box 195 Henderson, NV 89014.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 43
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
SUBSCRIPTION FORM
Complete mailing addresses are required, please include your Zip+4
Subscriptions are $2.00 per issue or $12.00 a year
NAME_____________________________________________________________
ADDRESS__________________________________________________________
CITY, STATE, ZIP_________________________________________________
The Voice of Veterans, Incarcerated, 631 N. Stephanie St. Box 195
Henderson, NV 89014
Number of issues desired:___________ Amount Enclosed:___________
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 44
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXX
XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX \ \ \ \ \XXXX
XXXXX XXXXX.::::::::::::::.XXXXX INCARCERATED XXXX
XXXXX XXXXX --------- XXXXX \ \ \ \ \ \ \XXXX
XXXXX .XXXXX W W I I XXXXX. VETERANS \ \XXXX
XXXXX ::XXXXX --------- XXXXX::. \ \ \ \ XXXX
XXXXX :::XXXXX ------------- XXXXX:::. XXXX
XXXXX ::::XXXXX K O R E A XXXXX:::: XXXX
XXXXX ::::XXXXX ------------- XXXXX:::: XXXX
XXXXX ::::XXXXX ------------- XXXXX:::: XXXX
XXXXX ::::XXXXX V I E T N A M XXXXX:::: XXXX
XXXXX ::::XXXXX ------------- XXXXX:::: XXXX
XXXXX ::::XXXXX::::::::::::::::XXXXX:::: XXXX
XXXXX ::::XXXXX::::::::::::::::XXXXX:::: XXXX
XXXXX ::::XXXXX::' `::XXXXX:::: XXXX
XXXXX ::::XXXXX:: ::XXXXX:::: XXXX
XXXXX ::::XXXXX `..........''`XXXXX:::: XXXX
XXXXX ::::XXXXX .:(O) . (O):. XXXXX:::' XXXX
XXXXX ::' XXXXX .. XXXXX:: XXXX
XXXXX .:' XXXXX . .. XXXXX: XXXX
XXXXX :: XXXXX . .. ` XXXXX XXXX
XXXXX :: XXXXX ' '.. ` XXXXX. XXXX
XXXXX :: XXXXX" ' ` XXXXX . XXXX
XXXXX ``. XXXXX ' . . . ` XXXXX '. ........., XXXX
XXXXX :: XXXXX'' ..''.'''. XXXXX .' '.XXXX
XXXXX :: XXXXX" ':.:'' XXXXX .'' .:::'XXXX
XXXXX :: XXXXX:.. .:XXXXX.'' .::::' .XXXX
XXXXX :: XXXXX '.. ..:' XXXXX ..:' . .:::'XXXX
XXXXX ....::'XXXXX ':::::;' XXXXX .:''. .:::' XXXX
XXXXX .:::::' XXXXX .: XXXXX :'. ..:... XXXX
XXXXX.::' :: XXXXX: PREPARED TO XXXXX .'' ''.. XXXX
XXXXX::' :: XXXXX`: FIGHT XXXXX.' '.XXXX
XXXXX' :: XXXXX ``. XXXXX XXXX
XXXXX '' XXXXX PREPARED TO XXXXX XXXX
XXXXX :: XXXXX DIE ...'XXXXX XXXX
XXXXX :: XXXXX `...' XXXXX XXXX
XXXXX `..' XXXXX .' XXXXX XXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXX /\ .' .' XXXX
XXXXX /\ \ . . XXXX
XXXXX / \ \...' `. .' XXXX
XXXXX / NOT PREPARED TO BE DESERTED XXXX
XXXXX / .'.' . .`.' XXXX
XXXXX / ~ | : : : . XXXX
XXXXX / |`. : : . .__________ XXXX
XXXXX / ~ ~ ||.` ` : || \ / XXXX
XXXXX / WRITE OR VISIT AN INCARCERATED VETERAN SOON ! XXXX
XXXXX / ~ || . .'. / / XXXX
XXXXX/ ~ ~ ~|| ||/ / XXXX
XXXXX ~ ~ ~ || || / XXXX
XXXXX || || / XXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXX \_________XXXXX________|| XgjpX XXXX
XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXX
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 45
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
COMMON SENSE???
Submitted by Joyce Flory
From: The Voice of Veterans, Incarcerated newsletter
Volume Three; May 1994
VETLink #13 - Las Cruces, NM
(505) 523-2811
The prison counselors says
We must accept the responsibility
For our crime
So the courts put us in prison to pull time
They take away our liberty
And put us through h*ll
This is punishment they say
The courts grant the coward
Draft dodgers pardons
No prison will they see,
But 450,000 of us who fought
For America in that crazy Asian War
Rot behind prison walls
No pardon for those of us that made mistakes
I ask you where's the common sense in that??
Those who started the war, sit some place sipping wine,
Those who sprayed Agent Orange on us, live the good life
Those in Washington got $$rich$$ off contracts
Guns and Bullets while we fought and died,
We came home they spit on us
Where is the common sense in this????
You pardon cowards and set free draft dodgers
And let the real criminals
Walk free, while the maimed
And wounded brave men
Who fought the war, now sit
Dying behind prison walls
What kind of justice is that???
So if you're a real American,
And feel you want to right a wrong today:
Then take up the cause of
450,000 Vietnam Veterans
Rotting behind prison walls.
Write your Congressman,
And demand a pardon
For them all
Why, pardon cowards
And let brave men rot
Behind prison walls
Put some common sense in
This insane government
By Johnny "Angel" Huff
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 46
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
INCARCERATED VETERANS
From: National Vietnam Veterans Coalition newsletter
Oct./Nov., 1994 issue, page 20.
Submitted by Joyce Flory
Incarcerated Veterans Section Editor
VETLink #13 - Las Cruces, NM
(505) 523-2811
Edward J. McKenna and Norman Ackerman, incarcerated veterans in a
New York penitentiary comment on a 1988-89 Report of the Working
Group on Incarcerated Veterans, in an August 8, 1994, letter to
incarcerated veterans activist Michael O'Meara:
The Report concluded that:
- service should be the same as for the outside community
- DOCS [Department of Corrections Services] should
systematically screen for inmate veteran status
- vets mental health assessment must include a record
taker who has the ability to take a reliable military
history
- there must be trained clinicians to deliver therapeutic
services
- there must be specialized PTSD units for vets who need
more than the vets in the general population and there
must be access to 'rap' groups, peer counseling and DVA
benefits
- a program is needed for the transition of the
incarcerated vets back to society.
The Working Group went on to say:
"There are counselors from DOCS as well as psychologists, social
workers, and psychiatrists providing services under... Mental
Health. These professionals need appropriate training to
understand the impact of the Vietnam experience and the nature of
PTSD, and to adapt their existing clinical skills to address the
special needs of incarcerated Vietnam veterans." [emphasis ours]
Unfortunately, this recommendation by the Working Group was
taken by the DOCS then-Commissioner, Thomas Coughlin III, as a
mandate to propose that $87,000.00, later finalized by Governor
Mario Cuomo as $100,000.00, be used in 1992 for the
'sensitization' of corrections Guidance Counselors to PTSD...
None of the money went directly to PTSD patient assessment or
treatment. Was this the type of expenditure the Commission
wanted?...
There are three vital elements missing from the Findings,
Conclusions and Recommendations in the Report, namely:
- confidentiality - of records
- trust - in DOCS agency personnel
- herbicide (Agent Orange) exposure evaluation
CONFIDENTIALITY:
There is none. All DOCS security and counselor units, OMH-PSU
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 47
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
(Office of Mental Health - Psychiatric Satellite Units), and
Probation and Parole records are open to each other, to the
courts and to other 'interested' legal parties, and this includes
the history, psychological testing, disability assessments and any
unguarded statements made in individual or group 'rap' sessions.
To get out of the isolation, alienation, depression and despair of
PTSD, the vet, thinking there is a kind of anonymity cover, may
confess some transgression of war or civil society, his own or a
buddy's, and end up with some new criminal/administrative charges,
or be on a 'rat' list. Would you want to encourage the vets with
a need to unburden from the guilt and rage to stick their necks in
a noose? Of course not. But you fellows on the 'outside' must
learn, learn, learn the absolute lack of confidentiality of
records in the work of the state agencies.
TRUST:
None, ...! Any vet with a half a brain has an absolute dyed-in-
the-wool distrust of state agency personnel and professionals;
distrust of their motives of their WORD, and of their competence
in dealing with problems of PTSD, Agent Orange toxicity and DVA
accreditation for the vets disability and upgrading claims.
HERBICIDE EXPOSURE:
This is totally sloughed off by DOCS. Not only is the vet
suffering from diagnosis and treatment neglect, but the next
generation is at risk from transmitted genetic defects possible
with the toxicity. ['Trailer' visits and conjugal reunions are
permitted now in DOCS maximum-security facilities, and there are
furlough and work-release programs in the mediums and minimums.]
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 48
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Vietnam Veterans, Incarcerated Pen Pal List
Submitted by Joyce Flory
Incarcerated Veterans Section Editor
VETLink #13 - Las Cruces, NM
(505) 523-2811
Due to the lack of contact with many of the veterans listed below,
some may no longer be at the prison listed.
Johnny Chadwick 110520 James Bishop 31347
Holman Unit 5-U-5 Brook De Nault 29594
Holman 37 John Doane 14686
Atmore, AL 36503-0037 Roy Fudge 29966
Earl Grissom 27536
Chaplain Dennis G. Pigman Brain Hern 14535
Jerry Barnett 083876 Ken Jezierski 30790
Michael Bass 086961 Harry Lilly 29894
Ronald Brackett 800013 James McGee 31489
Richard Brasher 077897 George McIntyre 25124
Darrell Brooks 081683 Eugene Perry 29647
Henry Burris 081658 James Raines 31445
John Campbell 078482 Dan Richmond 15601
John Campbell 076674 Eddie Romero 22115
Tommy Chappell 091711 Eddie Sanchez 26895
Stuart Clements 082516 Claude Theriault 11872
Hoyt Clines 000886 Robert Turner 30473
Raymond Coble 088317 Harold Weaver 17624
Jessie Cockrell 082169 Jeff Weil 28242
Benny Cooper 089393 Cecil Williams 23818
James Dansby 082797 Nevada State Prison
Thomas Dinger 088756 PO Box 607
Isiah Dumas 079752 Carson City, NV. 89702
Donnie Dunivan 082890
David Fain 083803 Sam Howard 18329
Lewis Fields 083568 Pete Huertas 15239
Dennis Glick 086895 Jake Reynolds 21763
Michael Hanshew 086275 Paul Stadtlander 23389
Johny Henderson 082960 Cam Tomarchio 15192
Harold Hobbs 077219 Ely State Prison
Herman Holland 084387 PO Box 1989-ESP
Dewayne Hulsey 000865 Ely, NV. 89301
Cecil Jeffers 073300
Tim Keepes 085209 George "Doc" Wray 31324
Larry King 095569 Michael W. Tubazio 22135
Harold Krigbaum 087060 Humboldt Conservation Ctr.
Eugene Lilly 091245 PO Box 1069
Scott Macdonald 082181 Winnemucca, NV. 89446-1069
James Madison 083401
Timmothy Mcdaniel 078129 Richard Young
Gary Mcdonald 082306 Lock Bag "R" - 67793
James Metcalf 088642 Rahway, N.J. 07065
George Moore 076781
Charles Moorman 076535 Ervun L. Armlin
Herbert Newman 093888 86-C-0782 D-6-6
Michael O'Rourke 000903 Ron Chamberlain
Michael Orndorff 000889 81-C-0459 C-17-41
William Parker 000899 Ed Beaufort Cutner
Eldon Patton 060104 89-C-1606 C-13-6
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 49
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
James Perdue 084302 Thomas Delmonte
James Phelps 084005 86-C-1021 A-1-20
Perry Powell 092346 Gary Emry
James Renton 073560 89-C-1315 A-7-24
Darryl Richley 000888 Giacomo A. Frascone
Willard Robbins 080976 89-A-3512 A-6-22
Larry Robertson 089180 Elwood H. Fields
Craig Ryan 093104 88-A-4043 D-8-13
Raymond Sanders 000918 William L. Hargrove
Larry Sawdon 080276 83-A-4292 D-8-18
William Smallwood 090456 Donald W. Knapp
Michael Smith 087109 88-C-0072 A-3-8
Reginald Smith 085042 Michael Mantice
Jimmy Staton 089671 90-A-7640 B-7-18
Charles Stoner 084433 Thomas H. Marlowe
William Sykes 084447 83-C-0834 E-9-16
Danny Taylor 083979 Ferdinand Quiles
Robert Upton 066236 83-A-5609 A-4-38
Arthur Walls 079942 Robert T. Smith
James Walters 087938 81-A-2188 A-5-10
Bruce Ward 000915 Andrews S. Tenny
Derek Webster 091356 81-B-2137 E-10-19
Johnny Williams 079023 PO Box 618-135
Alfred Wilson 062356 135 State St.
Johnny Witham 065978 Auburn, N.Y. 13024-9000
Billy Woodard 089235
Gregory Woods 077991 Greg McCarthy
Arkansas Dept. of Corr. 257 Hallman Ave.
Maximum Security Unit Oceanside, N.Y. 11572
Star Route, Box 22-B
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123531 Unit 5
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Seventh Annual NamVet Page 50
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Joe Crutchfield
EF-182342 FC-210 Van Burton
Garey Davis 108483 (A-120)
EF-185119 KA-119 M Davenport
Albert Fetter 155165 (N-321)
EF-257479 M Donati
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EF-245285 GA-109 Joe Grace
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EF-152010 JA-119 M Glennon
Michael L. Morgan 140901 (O-101)
D-11340 H B-Range J Heidinger
Raymond W. Myrick Jr. 102513 (O-421)
EF-199153 H B-Range Charles Ladison
Clarence T. Plott 138228 (O-330)
EF-271182 FD-229 G Magno
Michael J. Previch 112810 (N-418)
EF-278117 JC-211 William Merriman
David E. Shepherd 131789 (A-66)
EF-158022 H B-Range L Rainsford
James Talley 126380 (B-108)
EF-159938 HD-229 Abdul Shah
Metro Corr. Inst. 101250 (O-417)
1301 Constitution Rd. SE Gerald Stovall Jr.
Atlanta, GA. 30316-4698 98899 (O-328)
R Sutton
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A-83283
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Seventh Annual NamVet Page 51
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Pat McGuire 106330 HA-2
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Seventh Annual NamVet Page 52
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
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Seventh Annual NamVet Page 53
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
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Seventh Annual NamVet Page 54
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
Don't eat or drink!
==================================================================
Veterans and Agent Orange:
Health effects of Herbicides used in Vietnam
Report by
Professor Robert MacLennan and Professor Peter Smith
Submitted by Neville Madden
P O Box 112 Crows Nest QLD 4355 Australia
1. Epidemiology Unit. Queensland Institute of Medical
Research. 300 Herston Rd. Brisbane, QLD 4029
2. Department of Haematology-Oncology,
Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Road,
Parkville, V1C 3052
TERMS OF REFERENCE
We were asked to comment on the report of the Committee to Review
the Health Effects on Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides,
hereafter referred to as the NAS Report. The Committee was
appointed by the Division of Health Promotion and Disease
Prevention, Institute of Medicine, National Academy Press,
Washington, in 1993. Our terms of reference were to:
* Examine the Report of the National Academy of Sciences and
comment on the scientific merit of the Report;
* Comment on the applicability of the findings of the Report
to Australian servicemen and servicewomen, and in
particular the diseases listed as "limited/suggestive" of
an association, and if needed, assist in preparation of
Statements of Principle that address these diseases;
* Comment on the relevance of the Recommendations of the
Report to Australian veterans.
SCIENTIFIC MERIT OF THE NAS REPORT
In commenting on the scientific merit of the NAS Report we
considered the following:
1. The members of the Committee are regarded highly by academic
and scientific colleagues, nationally and internationally.
They have an appropriately wide range of expertise.
2. The Committee's specific mandate was to determine, if
possible,
a. "whether there is a statistical association between the
suspect diseases and herbicide use, taking into account
the strength of the scientific evidence and the
appropriateness of the method used to detect the
association";
b. "the increased risk of disease among individuals exposed
to herbicides during service in Vietnam; and
c. "whether there is a plausible biologic mechanism or other
evidence of a causal relationship between herbicide
exposure and a disease".
The Committee's first task was to assess statistical association,
and in doing so, they took into account the strength of the
evidence and the appropriateness of the methods used to detect the
association. They also considered the consistence of association
among studies. Their conclusions are given in the body of the NAS
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 55
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Report.
The Committee's findings regarding associations between exposure
to herbicides and specific health outcomes are summarized in table
1-1 of the executive summary (pages 1-5 and 1-6) of the NAS
Report. The findings are grouped under four categories. This
table has had considerable impact in the United States of America,
but it should be noted that the table refers only to 2 (a) above
and not to 2 (b) or (c). Diseases were classified by the
Committee in four categories as follows:
1. sufficient evidence of an association;
2. limited/suggestive evidence of an association;
3. inadequate/insufficient evidence to determine whether an
association exists;
4. limited/suggestive evidence of no association.
These categories are very similar to those used in International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) monographs on the evaluation
of carcinogenic risk to humans where the evidence relevant to
carcinogenicity from studies in humans is classified into one of
the following categories:
1. sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity
2. limited evidence of carcinogenicity
3. inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity
4. evidence suggesting lack of carcinogenicity.
The two classifications are thus structurally identical, but are
essentially different in what they refer to. The categories of
the IARC classification refer to what are considered to be CAUSAL
RELATIONSHIPS whereas in contrast, the categories in table 1-1 of
the NAS report refer to POSITIVE STATISTICAL ASSOCIATIONS. The
NAS Report states (page 1-5) that "the distinctions between
categories are based on 'statistical association', not on
causality, as is common in scientific reviews". The NAS Report
does however address whether or not there are plausible biologic
mechanisms between herbicide exposures and diseases, as required
by 2(c) above, but quite correctly this consideration does not
appear to have influenced their assessment of statistical
association. Other criteria of causality commonly used to assess
the causality of associations were considered in the NAS Report,
and the Committee were thus conservative in assessing the evidence
and in allocating associations into their first three categories
of association above. This is discussed further in the next
section of our report.
CONCLUSIONS
The NAS Report is a high quality review by competent and respected
scientists of the scientific literature relating to health effects
of the herbicides used in Vietnam. The NAS Report reports on an
evaluation of statistical associations, and although the Committee
did not formally evaluate the causality of those associations for
which there is considered to be "sufficient evidence", several of
the criteria normally used to assess causality were used in
determining the presence of "statistical association". The
Committee was thus conservative in its evaluation of the evidence.
APPLICABILITY OF THE FINDINGS OF THE NAS REPORT TO
AUSTRALIAN SERVICEMEN AND SERVICEWOMEN
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 56
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
THE STUDY OF EFFECTS OF HERBICIDES AND VIETNAM SERVICE AMONG
VETERANS
In the general absence of an index of personal exposure to
herbicides, two approaches have been used to assess possible
adverse health effects of service in Vietnam. The first approach
assumes that exposure to herbicides occurred but is generally
impossible to study directly, and hence the effects of herbicide
exposure in other situations are used as surrogates for the
effects of service in Vietnam. This approach is the basis of the
NAS Report, and classifies diseases according to the level of
association with herbicide exposure in non-Vietnam studies. No
attempt is made to take account of the high probability that apart
from personnel directly involved in spraying herbicides, the
exposure to herbicides of veterans in Vietnam was very much less
than in studies of persons exposed in manufacturing herbicides or
in applying them.
The second approach pragmatically seeks to determine what adverse
health effects are associated with Vietnam service. The issue as
to whether or not there was herbicide exposure and consequent
health effects is regarded as an insoluble problem beyond the
scope of scientific investigation, and thus of little relevance to
decision making. In preparatory work for an epidemiological
investigation by the Commonwealth Institute of Health and
commissioned by the Australian Government, the problem of
development of an adequate index of exposure was considered to be
insurmountable, and as a consequence it would not be possible to
demonstrate direct associations between exposure to herbicides and
diseases in veterans. One of the authors of this report
(MacLennan) was the principal investigator during the planning and
initiation of Australian studies in 1981, and the approach taken
in relation to studies of Australian veterans was to attribute any
differences in disease outcomes between veteran and control groups
to service in Vietnam rather than to herbicide exposure, per se.
An example is the study of birth defects in children fathered by
Australian veterans (Donovan et al 1984).
Because the health effects observed in non-veteran studies are
often done in highly exposed groups of people, eq from
occupational exposures, or as a result of an accidental exposure
as in the population of Seveso, Italy, application of the
conclusions of the NAS Report to veterans who, except for
personnel occupationally exposed, had much lower levels of
exposure, is giving veterans the benefit of any doubt.
EXTRAPOLATION FROM NON-VETERAN STUDIES TO VETERANS
The process of extrapolation from studies of highly exposed
persons to veterans with generally unknown exposures appears to be
a response to the concerns of veterans. It is stated on page 1-4
of the NAS Report that "the Committee felt that considering
studies of other groups could help address the issue of whether
these compounds might be associated with particular health
outcomes, even though these results would have only an indirect
bearing on the increased risk of disease in veterans themselves.
Some of these studies, especially those of workers in chemical
production plants, provide stronger evidence about health effects
than studies of veterans because exposure was generally more
easily quantified and measured."
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 57
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
The Committed state on page 1-13 that "although there have been
numerous health studies of Vietnam veterans, most have been
hampered by relatively poor measures of exposure to herbicides or
TCDD, in addition to other methodological problems". On page 1-13,
the concluded that "it is not possible to quantify the degree of
risk likely to be experienced by veterans because of their
exposure to herbicides in Vietnam."
APPLICABILITY OF THE NAS REPORT TO AUSTRALIAN VETERANS
In considering to what extent the findings of the Committee are
applicable to Australian veterans, it is noted that the Committee
was very conservative in their assessment of statistical
associations. They used more stringent criteria than appear to
have been required by their terms of reference. On page 8-3, the
Committee state that "one must beware of over interpreting an
isolated finding of excess risk for a given tumour type within a
single study. Consistency across studies, with consideration of
dose-response relationships and use of other statistical methods
that evaluate plausibility, should be assessed before reaching any
conclusions regarding associations between exposures and cancer.
Additionally, the confidence intervals around the estimate of
association will provide guidance as to the degree of precision
and study size." Dose-response and plausibility are criteria also
used in making judgements about the causality of associations and
go beyond simple statistical associations.
In our review, we have considered that the NAS Report's category 2
of "limited/suggestive" evidence of an association is
unsatisfactory from the point of view of decision making. Hence
we have deleted the "limited/suggestive" category. Only two
categories - "sufficient evidence of an association" and
"inadequate/insufficient evidence to determine whether an
association exists" are used by us in our report. We have
evaluated the evidence of association for all diseases in the
"limited/suggestive" category, and have assigned them to either
the "sufficient evidence" or "inadequate/insufficient evidence"
categories. In addition, we have reviewed diseases in the
"inadequate/insufficient" category to assess whether any should be
classified in the "sufficient evidence" category.
A. DISEASES WITH SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE OF AN ASSOCIATION
We accept the NAS Report's inclusion of the following diseases
in this category: chloracne, soft tissue sarcoma, porphyria
cutanea tarda, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease. To this
we would add multiple myeloma, leukaemia and respiratory cancers.
The reasons for doing so are given below.
The approach taken by the Committee to categorizing evidence of
statistical associations was conservative, and included
consideration of criteria used to judge the causality of
associations. Some of these criteria are measures, in part, of
the internal validity of a study and are therefore appropriately
considered in the context of assessing associations.
REVIEW OF THE NAS REPORT BY THE US DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
TASK FORCE
Due to the conservative approach taken by the Committee in the
NAS Report, we have compared the conclusions of the NAS Committee
and those of a US Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) Task Force
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 58
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
in relation to three cancers (lung, larynx, trachea), prostate
cancer, and multiple myeloma) included in the "limited/suggestive"
category of the NAS Report.
The process by which determination are made regarding compensation
for veterans for certain diseases related to service is outlined
on page 2-28 of the NAS Report. It is stated that
"whenever the Secretary determines, on the basis of
sound medical and scientific evidence, that a positive
association exists between the exposure of humans to an
herbicide agent, and the occurrence of a disease in
humans, the Secretary prescribes regulations providing
that a presumption of service connection is warranted
for that disease. The current DVA compensation policy
provides that in making determinations, the Secretary
shall take into account reports from the National
Academy of Sciences and all other sound medical and
scientific information and analysis. In evaluating any
study for the purpose of making such determinations, the
Secretary shall take into consideration whether the
results are statistically significant, are capable of
replication, and withstand peer review. An association
between the occurrence of a disease in humans and
exposure to an herbicide agent is considered to be
positive if the credible evidence for the association is
equal to or outweighs the credible evidence against the
association."
The DVA Task Force stated that "The NAS Report is both a valuable
contribution to the medical and scientific literature and a
valuable resource to DVA in carrying out the Congressional mandate
to prescribe regulations for a presumption of service-connection,
when DVA determines that the credible evidence for the association
(between herbicide use and a disease) is equal to or outweighs the
credible evidence against the association". The NAS Committee
"was charged with reviewing the scientific evidence, rather than
making recommendations regarding .. policy" (NAS Report Page 1-5).
Both the NAS Committee and the DVA Task Force considered the
evidence. In doing so the DVA Task Force used the NAS Report as a
resource, and had access to the same body of scientific
literature.
We have reviewed the evidence, taking into account both the NAS
Report and the DVA Task Force recommendations.
HAEMOPOIETIC MALIGNANCY
MULTIPLE MYELOMA
Multiple myeloma is a malignant disease resulting from a
monoclonal proliferation of plasma cells which are the most mature
cells of the B lymphocyte lineage. It is a very uncommon
malignancy representing approximately 1% of haematological
malignancies and thus a very small percentage of malignancy
overall. Its incidence is age dependant being very uncommon
before middle age and with incidence rising to advancing age. It
is interesting to note that it is approximately 14 times more
common in Afro Americans than in white Americans. Thus in a
racially representative sample of the US population one would
expect to find approximately twice the cases that one would find
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 59
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
in a similarly representative sample of the Australian population.
EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES. Epidemiologic studies of multiple myeloma
in populations exposed or likely to have been exposed to
herbicides are summarised in table 8-32 of the NAS Report. As the
DVA Task Force has commented, these data are at least as
compelling in establishing an association as are the data for
Hodgkin's disease.
Epidemiological studies of multiple myeloma in Vietnam veterans
however have not established a clear association. These studies
are difficult to accept as definitive however because of the
rarity of the disease under study and the fact that the median age
of the population under study is still too low to pick up many
cases. If the effect simply causes an increase in age specific
incidence this hypothesized effect may not be seen for many more
years.
BIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS. As pointed out in the introduction
multiple myeloma is a malignancy of mature cells of the B
lymphocyte lineage. The data strongly support an association
between non Hodgkin's lymphoma and both herbicide exposure and
Vietnam service. Non Hodgkin's lymphoma in this age group is
usually a malignant proliferation of less mature cells of the
lymphocyte lineage. While this cell lineage does not prove an
association it does provide plausible support for the hypothesis
of association.
CONCLUSION: We would agree with the DVA Task Force reviewers that
the data provide sufficient evidence of an association between
multiple myeloma and exposure to herbicides.
LEUKAEMIA
Leukaemia results from an abnormal monoclonal proliferation of
haemopoietic stem or precursor cells of either myeloid or lymphoid
lineage resulting in the recognised forms of this disease, ie
acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
(ALL), chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML), and chronic lymphocytic
leukaemia (CLL). Leukaemia in humans is associated with exposure
to ionizing radiation and in some cases, a genetic predisposition.
EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES: Results of epidemiological studies of
leukaemia in populations exposed or likely to have been exposed to
herbicides are given in the NAS Report in table 8-33 (production
workers), table 8-34 (agricultural workers) and on page 8-137
(Vietnam veterans). These studies are complicated by (i) small
numbers as this is an uncommon disorder especially in younger to
middle aged persons and (ii) possibly long latency. A positive
association was found in studies of Seveso survivors where there
was a relative risk of 1.98 (1.25-3.13) for leukaemia (Bertazzi,
1989). There has been an extensive literature over many years of
the association between leukaemia and farming, summarized by
Burmeister (1982). Studies reported by Alavanja (1988) among
agricultural extension workers found an increased risk of
leukaemia of 1.92 (1.04-3.54), with significant dose response
related to number of years worked. However, the amount of
exposure of farmers and agricultural workers to herbicides is
uncertain.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 60
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
SMOKING: Inclusion of leukaemia as a war service related disease
is supported by a recent meta-analysis supporting a causal
relationship between cigarette smoking and certain forms of adult
leukaemia (Brownson et all 1993). The summary smoking related
risk derived from prospective studies was 1.3 (1.3-1.4), and there
was evidence of dose-response. In an evaluation of epidemiologic
studies and applying the criteria for causal inference, Siegel
(1993) concluded that smoking causes myeloid leukaemia.
BIOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS: Leukaemia is a disorder affecting a
haemopoietic stem or precursor cell. There is evidence of a clear
association between herbicide exposure and disorders of cells of
haemopoietic lineage (NHL and HD) and a situation where we believe
the evidence for such an association outweighs the evidence
against the association (multiple myeloma). Thus, it is plausible
to argue that an insult suffered by cells of a particular lineage
resulting in malignant proliferation of more mature precursor
cells might, after an appropriate latency, produce a similar
effect on less mature precursors of the same lineage. Indeed,
there is a clear association between occurrence of NHL or HD and
acute leukaemia, in that patients who have had HD or NHL are at
much higher risk than the general population to develop leukaemia.
We believe that these biological arguments provide plausible
support for the argument of an association.
CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to the NAS Report and DVA Task Force
findings, we believe that the evidence for an association between
herbicide exposure and leukaemia at least balances the evidence
against such an association. Such an argument is partly supported
by biological considerations. If the association between smoking
and leukaemia is accepted, the number of cases of leukaemia in
non-smoking veterans would be small, and these should be given the
benefit of the doubt.
RESPIRATOR CANCERS
Tobacco smoking causes a very high proportion of respiratory
cancer (of the larynx, trachea and bronchus) in Western
populations. Smoking varies by occupation, the proportion of
smokers generally being higher in "blue-collar" workers who
because of their occupation may also be exposed to a number of
chemicals. Smoking may thus be associated with both respiratory
cancer and occupational chemical exposure. Hence, in an
epidemiological study, a suspected occupational exposure may be
found to be associated with lung cancer because the exposure is
associated with smoking which in turn is associated with lung
cancer. This type of association is termed secondary association,
and the relationship between exposure and disease is said to be
confounded. The effects of confounding can be controlled in
analysis, but only if smoking information is available for the
individuals whose chemical exposure and disease have been
documented. It appears likely that the assignment in the NAS
Report of respiratory cancers to the "limited/suggestive evidence
of association" category was based mainly on the inadequate
control of potential confounding by smoking in the analysis of the
studies reviewed.
In addition to the overall summary in chapter 1 of the NAS Report,
we have review four studies of particular relevance to the issue
of association of herbicide exposure and respiratory cancers.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 61
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Lynge (1985) included a high proportion of all persons employed in
the manufacture of phyenoxy herbicides in Denmark before 1982 when
the predominant product was MCPA and only a very limited amount of
2,3,5-T was processed in one of the two factories included in the
study. Cancer cases were identified by linkage to the Danish
National Cancer Registry. Eleven cases of lung cancer were
observed in men compared with 5.33 expected, a relative risk of
2.06 (95 percent confidence interval 1.03-3.69). Lynge considered
this nevertheless to be due to chance because of the large number
of diagnostic groups tested. The plants were located near
provincial towns and workers were previously recruited from the
countryside where tobacco consumption was relatively low in the
1950s. Lynge concluded that "based on the data presented here it
is not possible to draw a conclusion concerning the lung cancer
risk following exposure to phyenoxy herbicides".
In their study of 5,172 workers exposed to TCDD when working for
12 companies in the US, Fingerhut et al (1991), from the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, found that "excess
mortality from all cancers combined, cancers of the respiratory
tract, and soft tissue sarcoma may result from exposure to TCDD",
although they could not "exclude the possible contribution of
factors such as smoking and occupational exposure to other
chemicals". The total cohort of workers "had a non-significant
increase in mortality from cancers of the trachea, bronchus and
lung (ICD code 162). Mortality from cancers of the respiratory
system (ICD codes 160 to 165) was significantly higher in the
high-exposure subcohort (SMR 142; 95 percent confidence interval
103-192).
To estimate the effect of smoking on the increase in lung cancer,
the expected number of lung cancers was adjusted according to the
smoking prevalence found in lifetime histories obtained in 1987 by
interviewing 223 workers in two plants. This adjustment increased
the expected number of lung cancers in the overall cohort by 5
percent and in the high exposure subcohort by 1 percent, and
reduced the SMR in the full cohort to 105 (95 percent confidence
interval 85-130) and in the high exposure subcohort to 137 (95
percent confidence interval 98-187). There was no significant
linear trend in mortality from lung cancer with increasing
duration of exposure to products contaminated with TCDD. In their
discussion the authors stated that
"the increased number of lung cancers in the high-exposure
subcohort was probably not due to confounding by smoking for
several reasons.
First, other diseases related to smoking were not more
common than expected in this subcohort . . .
Second, in the exposed population with 20 years of latency,
whose members presumably shared similar smoking habits, the
increase was confined to the high exposure subcohort.
Third, on the basis of empirical evidence from other
studies, Siemiatycki et al have shown that between a blue-
collar population and the general US population, confounding
by smoking is unlikely to account to an excess risk of more
than 10 to 20 percent.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 62
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Finally, a limited adjustment in the risk of lung cancer
based on the smoking prevalence of surviving workers at only
two plants, did not substantially change our results."
However, they stated that "it remains possible that the increase
was due to confounding by occupational exposure other than TCDD.
For example, asbestos may have contributed to mortality from lung
cancer in the cohort, since two deaths were due to mesotheliomas".
The small but significant increase from all cancers combined was
considered to be "consistent with a carcinogenic effect of TCDD".
After excluding lung cancers, Fingerhut et al (1991) found
increased cancer mortality with an overall SMR of 117 (95 percent
confidence interval 100-136); the high-exposure subcohort had an
SMR of 150 (95 percent confidence interval 118-189). Thus the
increased mortality could not be explained by smoking, and the
authors considered it biologically plausible that TCDD may produce
tumours in more than one organ in humans. In an editorial in the
New England Journal of Medicine, Bailar (1991) commented that
"there is some weakening of the position of those who believe that
low levels of exposure to TCDD are entirely safe for humans". He
further stated "despite the problems, which Fingerhut et al
carefully note, this work is a model of its kind. Occupational
cohort studies are inherently difficult, and we are likely to wait
a long time for appreciably better evidence of the effects of TCDD
on human health".
Manz et al (1991) reported a mortality followup of 1184 men and
399 women employed in a Boehringer chemical plant in Germany that
produced herbicides including processes contaminated with TCDD.
The deaths from all cancers had an SMR of 124 when compared with
national data, similar to the SMR of 115 in the NIOSH study. They
concluded that their findings point to TCDD as a human carcinogen,
and that their results showed that the increase in cancer
mortality is not directed at special sites. However, when
compared with a cohort of 3417 male workers at the Hamburg gas
company, who had similar smoking histories, the SMR for lung
cancer among the TCDD exposed workers in the Boehringer cohort was
167 (95 percent confidence interval 109-244). This SMR was based
on 26n cases observed versus 15.6 expected. They concluded that
"substantial confounding due to smoking seems unlikely".
Saracci et al (1991) reported results from an international
register of 18,910 production workers or sprayers from ten
countries. Using cause-specific national death rates as
reference, no excess mortality was observed for all causes, for
all neoplasms, for the most common epithelial cancers, or for
lymphomas. Among 13,482 workers regarded as exposed to
chlorophenoxy herbicides, the SMR for trachea, bronchus and lung
cancers was 102 (95 percent confidence interval 87-118); but in a
subcohort of 416 workers regarded as probably exposed (no job
titles were available but it was judged that most workers would
have been exposed) the SMR was 221 (95 percent confidence interval
110-395); and in 3951 non-exposed workers the SMR was 140 (95
percent confidence interval 100-190). The statistical
significance of these increased SMRs must be considered with
caution due to the large number of sites and exposure groups
assessed. Furthermore, it was not possible to adjust for
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 63
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
confounding by smoking due to the absence of information. The
authors do not comment on lung cancer in the discussion of their
results.
Williams (1991) stated in a letter to the Lancet (December 21/28,
1991, page 1592) that "exposure to TCDD has been clearly
associated with depression of the immune system in animals; the
weaker evidence for man is due largely to methodological
shortcomings. . . Secondly, if we assume that TCDDs are
carcinogenic promoters and that they have the ability to stimulate
initiated cells to produce a tumour, it is plausible that TCDD
could promote overt cancer in many different types and at
different sites. Biologically the precedence for this can be seen
in organ transplant surgery which has been causally linked with
the development of several de novo cancers - for example, lymphoma
(notably reticulum cell sarcoma), liver cancer, and skin cancer.
This variety of de novo cancers is caused by the immunocompromised
state of the individual, rendering them more susceptible to the
impact of carcinogenic stimulus".
In its Report (page 8-2) the NAS Committee said that "based on its
effects in animal studies, TCDD is considered a tumour promoter,
not a tumour initiator". Although it is biologically plausible to
have cancers of more than one type following TCDD exposure, lung
cancer has not been recognized to be increased following organ
transplantation and immunosuppression.
CONCLUSIONS: There is evidence both for and against herbicide-
lung cancer association, with some studies providing evidence of
statistically significant association (despite absence of formal
control of confounding) and others being unable to replicate the
finding of association. In an Australian contest where smoking
related diseases have already been determined to be Service
related, veterans with the very few respiratory cancers not
presumptively related to exposure to tobacco should be given the
benefit of any doubt, and it is recommended that respiratory
cancers should be included in the "Sufficient evidence" category.
B. DISEASED RECOMMENDED TO BE ADDED TO THE GROUP WITH
INADEQUATE/INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE OF ASSOCIATION
PROSTATE CANCER
The only disease in the "Limited/suggestive" category not so far
discussed is prostate cancer. Regarding the applicability to
Australian veterans, we have considered the major publications
reviewed by the NAS Committee.
Alavanja et al 1988 studied mortality among agricultural extension
agents employed by the US Department of Agriculture. They were
responsible for disseminating information from the agricultural
research community to individual farmers. Although a
proportionate mortality analysis showed an increase for prostate
cancer (PMR of 1.5 with 95% confidence interval 1.13-1.99), a
case-control analysis of their mortality data found the odds ratio
for ever versus never having been an extension agent was 1.02 (95%
confidence interval 0.69-1.49). Approximately one third of these
men had been farmers prior to their employment as extension
agents.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 64
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Blair et al 1985 reviewed the literature and found that despite a
generally favourable experience overall, farmers were at an
increased risk from several cancers including prostate, although
in a previous study of licensed pesticide applicators, Blair et al
1983 had 2 observed cases of prostate cancer compared with 3.8
expected; and in a geographical analysis of prostate cancer in the
United States, Blair and Fraumeni (1978) found the highest rates
for prostate cancer in the Midwest and north-central region of the
United States.
Burmeister (1981) used Iowa death certificate information to
compare the mortality rates of white male farmers and nonfarmers,
and found a higher proportional mortality rate for prostate cancer
among farmers (PMR = 1.10 p<0.01). Age-adjusted death rates among
Iowa farmers from 1971 to 1978 were 206.48 per 100,000 compared
with 116.20 among non-farmers. Burmeister et al (1983) in a
subsequent case-control analysis of death certificates found an
association between farming and prostate cancer (OR 1.19, p<0.05),
but no association with any agricultural practice was found.
Morrison et al (1992) in their review of herbicides and cancer
summarised epidemiologic studies of herbicide exposure and the
relative risk of prostate cancer. They concluded that there was
limited evidence that herbicide exposure may increase the risk of
prostate cancer. The studies reviewed included a cohort study of
western Canadian farmers (Morrison et al 1993) which found a
significant dose-response relationship between risk of dying of
prostate cancer and the number of acres sprayed. Morrison et al
(1992) concluded that "9 out of 10 studies reviewed noted an
increased risk of prostate cancer with herbicide exposure;
however, only the Canadian study observed a statistically
significant trend in risk".
In the NAS Report, the Committee place considerable weight on the
1993 paper of Morrison et al. They note the increased risk of
prostate cancer associated with herbicide spraying, and the
increasing risk found with increasing number of acres sprayed.
"For the entire cohort, the relative risk for prostate cancer and
spraying at least 250 acres was 1.2 (CI 1.0-1.5).; Adjustment for
potential confounders in the analysis showed no evidence of
confounding for the association." Analysis was restricted to
groups of farmers most likely to be exposed to phenoxy herbicides,
and the Committee reported that "for each of these restricted
comparisons, a statistical test for trend over increasing number
of acres sprayed was significant".
In contrast to studies of farmers, Breslin et al (1988) report on
patterns of mortality among 24,235 US Army and Marine Corps
Vietnam veterans compared with that of 26,685 non-Vietnam veterans
using standardized proportional mortality ratios. They found that
when all the malignancies were grouped together, Vietnam veterans
did not exhibit an excess of cancer when compared to their
counterparts who did not serve in Vietnam. They found
statistically significant increased risk among Marines for lung
cancer (PMR 1.58, p<0.025), and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (PMR 2.10,
p<0.025). The risk for soft tissue sarcoma was not elevated among
Vietnam veterans as a whole or in any subgroup of these veterans.
There were 30 deaths from prostate cancer among Army Vietnam
veterans (PMR 0.92, 95% confidence interval 0.55-1.23) and 5
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 65
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
deaths among Marine Vietnam veterans (PMR 1.29, 95% confidence
interval 0.16-10.3). The NAS Committee comment that "prostate
cancer is generally a disease of older men, and the risk among
Vietnam veterans would not yet be detectable in epidemiologic
studies."
CONCLUSIONS: The studies reviewed can be grouped into those of
farmers and related occupations where some chemical exposure
(albeit poorly defined) is assumed to have occurred, and a study
of mortality in Vietnam veterans. Neither the first group of
studies provides sufficient evidence of statistical association,
nor does the study of veterans. Hence prostate cancer should be
included in the inadequate/insufficient category. Although
studies of Vietnam veterans have not shown an increased risk for
prostate cancer, veterans have not yet reached the age where
prostate cancer is common, and this outcome should continue to be
monitored and kept under review.
RELEVANCE OF THE RESEARCH RECOMMENDATIONS OF
THE NAS REPORT TO AUSTRALIAN VETERANS
The research recommendations in chapter 12 of the NAS Report are
specifically directed to the USA. The recommendations are
abbreviated in numbers 1 to 67 below, and comments are then made
as to their relevance to Australian veterans.
1. CONTINUED FOLLOW-UP OF THE AIR FORCE RANCH HAND COHORT
Although small in numbers compared with the Ranch Hands, the Field
Hygiene Corps of the Australian Army used herbicides and
pesticides and potentially had higher levels of exposure than
other Service personnel. Members of this corps should be
identified and offered periodic screening for cancer.
2. IDENTIFICATION OF VIETNAM SERVICE IN COMPUTERISED INDEXES
As a result of previous investigations, a computerised database
exists in Australia of the 49,000 persons allotted to service in
Vietnam. To these, attempts should be made to identify and add
the approximate 3,000 persons including members of the Australian
Services and civilian employees who were also sent to Vietnam,
albeit in many instances for brief periods.
The database of National Servicemen who were drafted but who were
not subsequently allocated to Vietnam service has been shown in
previous studies, such as that of mortality, to be a unique and
highly valuable research resource.
Both these databases should be maintained, be held by more than
one institution, and, with suitable safeguards, be made available
for future research on the effects of Vietnam service.
3. DEVELOPMENT OF BIOMARKERS OF HERBICIDE EXPOSURE
Developments elsewhere should be monitored, although this is a low
research priority within Australia.
4. HISTORICAL EXPOSURE RECONSTRUCTION TO DEVELOP MODELS OF
HERBICIDE EXPOSURE
Developments elsewhere should be monitored, and if a valid model
were to be developed its use in future Australian studies would be
informative. Previous consideration of the feasibility of
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 66
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
developing an exposure model for Australian veterans concluded
that it would not be feasible to develop a valid model because the
only objective evidence would be to link information on aerial
spraying (from the so-called HERBS tapes) with the location of
troops on the ground, together with an estimate of exposure that
might result taking distance, weather, vegetation, clothing etc
into account. A major factor against the feasibility of an
exposure index in Australian service personnel was that up to 30
percent of the personnel in units at any given time were
misclassified regarding their presence or absence.
5. EVALUATION OF EXPOSURE RECONSTRUCTION MODELS
Developments elsewhere should be monitored, but this is a low
research priority for Australia.
6. ADDITIONAL EPIDEMIOLOGIC STUDIES OF VETERANS IF AN EXPOSURE
RECONSTRUCTION MODEL IS FOUND TO BE FEASIBLE AND VALID
This conditional recommendation is supported, although it is noted
that because it appears unlikely that a valid model of exposure
will be developed, epidemiologic research on Australian veterans
should focus on Vietnam Service as the relevant exposure.
It is recommended that the occurrence of diseases in veterans
should be monitored by periodic linkage of the computerised
indexes (recommendation 2 above) of persons who served in Vietnam
and of National Service draftees who did not, to the National
Cancer Incidence Clearing House and to the National Death Index.
Such investigations could be assisted by the Australian Institute
of Health and Welfare which maintains the National Clearing House
for Cancer and the National Death Index.
REFERENCES
Alavanja MCR, BL air A, Merkle S, Teske J, Eaton B.
Mortality among agricultural extension agents. American Journal
of Industrial Medicine 1988;14:167-176.
Bailar JC. How dangerous is dioxin?
New England Journal of Medicine 1991;324:260-262.
Bertazzi PA, Zocchetti C, Pesatori AC, Guercilena S, Sanarico M &
Radice L. Ten year mortality study of the population involved
in the Seveso Incident in 1976. American Journal of
Epidemiology 1989; 129:1187-1200.
Bertazzi PA, Pesatori AC, Consonni D, Tironi A, Landi MT &
Zocchetti C. Cancer incidence in a population accidentally
exposed to 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-para-diozin. Epidemiology
1993;4:398-406.
Blair A, Frauman DJ, Lubin JH, Fraumeni JF. Lung cancer and other
causes of death among licensed pesticide applicators. Journal
of the National Cancer Institute 1983;71:31-37.
Blar A, White DW. Leukemia cell types and agricultural practices
in Nebraska. Archives of Environmental Health 1985;40:211-214.
Blair A, Malker H, Cantor KP, Burmeister L, Wiklund K. Cancer
among farmers. Scandinavian Journal of Work and Environmental
Health. 1085;11:397-407.
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Breslin P, Kang HK, Lee Y, Burt V, Shepard BM. Proportionate
mortality study of US army and US marine corps veterans of the
Vietnam war. Journal of Occupational Medicine 1988;30:412-419.
Brown LM, Blair A, Gibson R, Everett GD, Cantor KP, Schuman LM,
Burmeister LF, Van Lier SF, Dick F. Pesticide exposures and
other agricultural risk factors of leukaemia. Cancer Research
1990;50:6585-6591.
Brownson RC, Novotny PE, Perry MC. Cigarette smoking and adult
leukemia - a meta-analysis. Archives of Internal Medicine
1993;153:469-475.
Bueno de Mesquita HB, Coornbos G, Van der Kuip DAM, Kogevinas M,
Winkelmann R. Occupational exposure to phenoxy herbicides and
cancer mortality in The Netherlands. American Journal of
Industrial Medicine 1993;23:289-300.
Burmeister LF. Cancer mortality in Iowa farmers, 1971-78.
Journal of the National Cancer Institute 1981;66:461-464.
Burmeister LF, Van Lier SF, Isacson P. Leukemia and farm practices
in Iowa. American Journal of Epidemiology 1982;115:720-728.
Burmeister LF, Everett GD, Van Lier S, Isacson P. Selected cancer
mortality and farm practices in Iowa. American Journal of
Epidemiology 1983;118:72-77.
Donovan J, MacLennan R, Adena M. Vietnam service and the risk of
congenital anomalies - a case-control study. Medical Journal of
Australia 1984;140:394-397
Doe JE, Paddle GM. The evaluation of carcinogenic risk to humans:
occupational exposures in the spraying and application of
insecticides. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology
1994;19:297-308.
Fingerhut MA, Halperin WE, Marlow DA, Piacitelli LA, Honchar PA,
Sweeney MH, Greife AL, Dill PA, Streenland K. Cancer mortality
in workers exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin.
New England Journal of Medicine 1991;324:212-218.
Fingerhut MA, Sweeney MH, Halperin WE, Schnorr TM. The
epidemiology of populations exposed to dioxin. In: Rappe C,
Buser HR, Dodet B, O'Neill IK (Ed), Environmental carcinogens -
methods of analysis and exposure measurement, IARC Scientific
Publications No 108. International Agency for Research on
Cancer, Lyon 1991.
Hansen ES, Hasle H, Lander F. A cohort study on cancer incidence
among Danish gardeners. American Journal of Industrial Medicine
1992;21:651-660.
Lynge E. A follow-up study of cancer incidence among workers in
manufacture of phenoxy herbicides in Denmark. British Journal
of Cancer 1985;52:259-270.
Manz A, Berger J, Dwyer JH, Flesch-Janys D, Nagel S, Waltsgott H.
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Cancer mortality among workers in chemical plant contaminated
with dioxin. Lancet 1991;338:959-964.
Morrison HJ, Wilkins K, Semenciw R, Mao Y, Wigle D. Herbicides
and cancer (review). Journal of the National Cancer Institute
1992;84:1866-1874.
Morrison H, Savitz D, Semenciw R, Hulka B, Mao Y, Morison D, Wigle
D. Farming and prostate cancer mortality. American Journal of
Epidemiology 1993;137:270-280.
Pesatori AC, Consonni D, Tironi A, Landi MT, Zocchetti C,
Bertazzi. Cancer morbidity in the Seveso area 1976-1986.
Chemosphere 1992;25:209-212.
Ronco G, Costa G, Lynge E. Cancer risk among Danish and Italian
farmers.
British Journal of Industrial Medicine 1992;49:220-225.
Saracci R, Kogevinas M, Bertazzi P-A et al. Cancer mortality in
workers exposed to chlorophenoxy herbicides and chlorophenols.
Lancet 1991;338:1027-1032.
Siegel M. Smoking and leukemia: evaluation of a causal
hypothesis. American Journal of Epidemiology 1993;138:1-9.
Wigle DT, Semenciw RM, Wilkins K, Riedel D, Ritter L, Morrison HI,
Mao Y. Mortality study of Canadian male farm operators: non-
Hodgkin's lymphoma mortality and agricultural practices in
Saskatchewan.
Journal of the National Cancer Institute 1990;82:575-582.
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" I t ' s o n l y t e e n a g e a c n e ! "
-Robert Nimmo-
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 70
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
Veteran commo from Uncle Sam and ...
==================================================================
Women Veterans Health Programs
Including Sexual Trauma Counseling Services
VA Pamphlet 10-114 June 1993
Introduction
A number of women veterans were victims of sexual assault while
serving on active military duty. While some of these women have
sought counseling for their sexual trauma, many women have never
discussed their assault with anyone. They are very uncomfortable
talking about it now, and even wonder if they can, or if it would
matter. Yet, these women know that they have "not felt the same"
since it occurred.
Unfortunately, this is a very common reaction of victims of sexual
assault. Many events are never reported. There are reasons for
this silence, many of them based on misconceptions about women who
have been victimized sexually. Nearly one-third of all rape
victims develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) sometime
during their lifetime. PTSD symptoms are often accompanied by
physical problems and generally "not feeling well."
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care professionals are
sensitive to the experience of sexual assault and the impact it
can have on a victim's physical and emotional health. They
understand the feelings of fear, anxiety, shame, anger and
embarrassment that victims of sexual assault can have when they
try to talk about their trauma. VA health care professionals can
help women who are coping with the trauma of sexual assault to
regain their confidence, self esteem, and quality of life. VA
provides confidential, priority counseling and related health care
services to eligible women veterans.
Q-- What is the Women Veterans Health Programs Act of 1992?
A-- Public Law 102-585, Veterans Health Care Act of 1992, enacted
November 4, 1992, established programs to improve health care
services for women veterans, including priority counseling for
sexual trauma and related health care services to eligible
women veterans.
Q-- Who is eligible for care under the Women Veterans Health
Programs Act of 1992?
A-- VA may provide counseling to women veterans who VA determines
require such counseling to overcome psychological trauma. The
trauma may result from a physical assault of a sexual nature,
battery of a sexual nature, or sexual harassment which
occurred while serving on active military duty. Public Law
102-585, defines sexual harassment as repeated, unsolicited
verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature which is
threatening in character.
Q-- When must a woman veteran seek care under the Women Veterans
Health Programs Act of 1992?
A-- Currently VA may provide counseling services through December
31, 1995. To be eligible to receive counseling, a woman
veteran must seek counseling from VA within two years after
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 71
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
the date of her discharge or release from active military
service. Currently a woman veteran who was discharged or
released from active military service before December 31,
1991, must seek counseling from VA prior to December 31, 1993
(CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL VA).
Q-- Is a woman veteran eligible to receive care for sexual trauma,
although the assault was never reported when it occurred?
A-- Yes. To be eligible to receive sexual trauma counseling and
related health care from VA, there is no requirement that a
woman veteran must have reported the sexual trauma when it
occurred or at any time during her active military service.
Q-- Where can a woman veteran receive care or more information
regarding the VA sexual trauma services?
A-- A woman veteran seeking counseling and related health care for
sexual trauma should contact the Women Veterans Coordinator at
the nearest VA medical center or vet center for assistance.
The telephone number for the medical center or vet center can
be found in the telephone directory under "U.S. Government"
listings.
Q-- What is disability compensation and who is eligible for this
benefit?
A-- Veterans who are disabled by injury or disease incurred or
aggravated during active service in the line of duty during
wartime or peacetime service and discharged or separated under
other than dishonorable conditions are eligible for monthly
payments from VA. The amount of these payments, called
disability compensation, is based on the degree of disability.
Disabilities are rated from zero to 100 percent disabling, in
increments of 10 percent. If there are two or more
disabilities, the individual percentages of each are used to
determine a combined disability evaluation. Compensation is
not payable at the zero percent level.
Q-- Can a woman veteran who was the victim of sexual assault while
serving on active duty qualify for disability benefits?
A-- VA may pay compensation to a woman veteran for disabilities
incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, including
disabilities or injuries resulting from sexual trauma. A
Veterans Benefits Counselor (VBC) at a VA medical center or
regional office can explain the compensation program in
greater detail and assist in filing a claim. Information may
also be obtained by calling 1-800-827-1000, and speaking with
a VBC at the nearest VA regional office.
Q-- Does a woman veteran who was the victim of sexual assault
while serving on active duty automatically qualify for
disability compensation?
A-- No. As stated above, payment of compensation is based on the
degree of the service-connected disability or disabilities.
VA must first determine whether there are current disabilities
related to military service. If disabilities are deemed
service related, VA then evaluates the degree of disability,
which determines the amount of compensation payable. Once
again, compensation is not payable for a zero percent
evaluation. A woman who has been the victim of sexual trauma
may or may not have residual disability which can be deemed
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 72
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
service connected, or may exhibit residuals which are not
compensable (i.e., evaluated at the zero percent level).
Q-- Does sexual assault have an impact on the mental and physical
health of the victim?
A-- Having been the victim of rape appears to significantly impact
on the overall health of the victim. According to the 1988
report, "Rape in America," nearly one-third (31 percent) of
all rape victims develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
sometime during their lifetime. Additionally, researchers are
beginning to notice a relationship between PTSD symptoms and
an increase in physical health problems and reports of "not
feeling well."
Q-- What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
A-- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a recurrent emotional
reaction to a terrifying, uncontrollable or life-threatening
event. The symptoms frequently develop after a person's sense
of safety and security is violated. Individuals with PTSD
experience a variety of symptoms that often impede their daily
lives. These may include sleep disturbances, nightmares,
emotional instability, feelings of fear and anxiety around
seemingly non-threatening situations, impaired concentration,
and increased stress or problems in intimate and other
interpersonal relationships. These reactions are common after
a trauma and are part of the initial adjustment process.
Q-- What other problems are commonly associated with rape-related
PTSD?
A-- Recent research shows that women who have experienced rape or
other violent crimes are more likely to develop problems with
depression, drug and/or alcohol abuse, and suicidal thoughts
than women who have not had such an experience. Also, it is
not uncommon for women to feel shame, guilt or confusion about
the rape itself.
Q-- What kind of help does a person with some of these symptoms
need?
A-- Frequently, people exposed to life-threatening trauma benefit
from psychological counseling. Talking about one's
experience, symptoms, fears and concerns with a trained
professional usually results in the reduction of such problems
and helps a person restore his/her sense of personal safety.
Victims of sexual assault or harassment have been successfully
treated in both individual and group therapy settings.
Q-- How does a woman know whether she needs treatment or what kind
of treatment would be best for her?
A-- If a women has been the victim of a sexual assault and is
experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned above, or if she
has experienced a general and continuing feeling of personal
discomfort, the most important thing for her to do is to
receive an evaluation by an appropriate health care
professional who knows about the impact sexual assault can
have on a person's physical and emotional health. The health
care professional can provide advice regarding available
treatment options or an appropriate referral.
Q-- I have never discussed my assault with anyone and I am very
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 73
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
frightened about talking about it now, and even wonder if I
can. What can I do about this fear?
A-- Unfortunately, this is a very common fear of women who have
been the victims of sexual assault. In fact, it is estimated
that only sixteen percent of the rapes that occur in this
country are ever officially reported. Many of the reasons for
this silence are based on society's stereotypes of women who
have been victimized sexually. It is important to remember
that health care professionals have become increasingly
sensitized to the experience of sexual assault and the impact
it can have on the victim. As a result, they are much more
able to respond to the fears and anxieties you are
experiencing. They will also understand the difficulty you
have in discussing them with another person and will be able
to help you express yourself in a way that is most comfortable
for you.
The Women Veterans Health Program includes:
* Priority outpatient counseling services and related
health care services;
* Education and counseling on the normal and expected
responses to sexual trauma;
* Assessment of the specific problem(s);
* Treatment to assist with restoring physical and
emotional health;
* Information and referrals for services and benefits
available.
For more information:
We welcome inquiries about any aspect of the Women Veterans Health
Programs Act of 1992, including VA sexual trauma counseling
services. To find out more about the VA health care services for
women veterans, contact the Women Veterans Coordinator at your
nearest VA medical center or your nearest VA vet center or VA
Regional office.
You can get more information by calling 1-800-827-1000 or by
contacting the VA regional office, medical center or vet center
near you.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 74
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Vietnam Women's Memorial Project, Inc.
"Sister Search"
The Vietnam Women's Memorial Project's (VWMP) "SISTER SEARCH"
is a program designed to locate the military and civilian
women who served their country during the Vietnam War.
The goals of "SISTER SEARCH" are to facilitate hope and healing
among women veterans; to provide a network for them; and to assist
research efforts on women who served during the Vietnam War. All
women veterans in the "SISTER SEARCH" database will periodically
receive information on the Project's progress.
Vietnam era women veterans are asked to provide as much
information as they feel comfortable sharing. "Sister Search"
is NOT a locator service, should an inquiry be made as to the
whereabouts of a person included in the "SISTER SEARCH" database,
the VWMP will pass the inquiry along in writing to the individual,
allowing her to decide whether she would like to respond. If the
individual is deceased, the inquiry will be sent to the closest
family member identified by the VWMP.
The VWMP dedicated the Vietnam Women's Memorial, the first
memorial in the nation's capital to honor women's service, on
November 11, 1993. The VWMP is a non-profit, volunteer
organization. Its primary purposes to educate the public about
the women who served during the Vietnam era and to locate and
provide a network for these women continue.
For more information, contact:
"SISTER SEARCH"
Vietnam Women's Memorial Project
2001 'S' Street NW
Suite #302
Washington DC 20009
202/328-7253
Fax 202/986-3636
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 75
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Vietnam Women's Memorial Project, Inc.
2001 S Street NW - Suite 302 - Washington DC 20009
202/328-7253 FAX: 202/986-3636
SISTER SEARCH
Name:________________________Vietnam Era Name: ___________________
(If different)
Address:_____________________________________ Work #: ____/_______
City:________________ State: __ Zip:________ Home #:
Branch of Service or
Civilian Organization: ___________________________________________
In-Country (Vietnam)
Assignment #1: ___________________________________________________
Start Date: ___________________________ End Date: ________________
Assignment #2: ___________________________________________________
Start Date: ___________________________ End Date: ________________
Assignment #3: ___________________________________________________
Start Date: ___________________________ End Date: ________________
Vietnam Era (1959-1975)
Assignment: ______________________________________________________
Start Date: ___________________________ End Date: ________________
The Project receives inquires from the press and researchers in
search of Vietnam era women veterans who are willing to share
their experiences.Your participation as a press/research/education
contact is strictly optional.
I authorize the Vietnam Women's Memorial Project to release my
name to individuals or organizations who are seeking information
on Vietnam era women veterans for press inquiries, research or
educational activities.
Signature ________________________________________ Date __________
I authorize the Vietnam Women's Memorial Project to release my
name to the National Associate Volunteer, Regional and/or State
Coordinator in my area.
-------------------|
FOR OFFICE USE | Signature ___________________ Date __________
DATE RECEIVED: |
|
TRANSFER: |
| Please list the names and addresses of any
ENTER: | other Vietnam era women veterans you know on
| the back of this form.
|
COMMENTS: |
-------------------| Thank you for participating in SISTER SEARCH
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 76
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
O YOU can help support the
O O VIETNAM WOMEN'S MEMORIAL PROJECT
O O with a direct donation (Federal
O A legacy of O employees: VWMP's CFC #0487) or by
O Healing and Hope O purchasing any of the products
O O listed on this page.
O O
O O Tell 'em NAMVET sent ya!
O __________ O
O ) O Commemorative Dedication Program 5.00
/(O) / O\ #113 Dedication Poster/Print 10.00
/ / O \ #114 Paperweight w/Memorial Design 10.00
/ VIETNAM / \ #115 Lapel Pin w/Memorial Design 5.00
/ WOMEN'S /HONORING\ #116 Cassette, Official Dedication Song
/ MEMORIAL /\ THE \ 'TIL THE WHITE DOVE FLIES ALONE 5.00
/ PROJECT / \ WOMEN \ #111 White Visor w/Project Name on it
/ / \ WHO \ One size fits all 100% poly 8.00
/ / \ SERVED / #112 Poplin Hat in Tan or White with
(__________/ \ / Brown imprint 1-Size Fits All 10.00
\ / #105 USA-Minted VWMP Bronze Coin 10.00
\ / #106 VWMP Silver Coin 10.00
\/ (105/106 1-troy oz; silver $ may vary)
#117 Book: VISIONS OF WAR, DREAMS OF PEACE 10.00
#110 Generous sz. cotton Canvas Tote Natural w/dk grn embdry 25.00
#118 Nat color 100% cot T-shirt w/"dog tag" design in dk grn 15.00
#109 Front/Back views of Memorial on 100% cotton T-shirt in
Natural color. Sizes M,L,XL,XXL 15.00
#102 Staff Shirt> Forest gn w/sqd-off btm & banded sleeve in
50/50 w/cm color Project Name on left chest Sizes S,M,L,XL 30.00
#103 ShtSl Beefy-T Forest Gn w/Project name in white raised
print on the left chest Sizes S,M,L,XL,XXL 17.00
#120 Same as above in Natural w/grn imprint 15.00
#104 LgSl 100% cot T-shirt in Forest grn w/Project name in
white raised print on the left chest. Sizes S,M,L,XL 22.00
#107 9oz Hvywt Swtshrt fm Lee Co in natural color w/Project name
embrdrd lft chest in dk grn. Generous Sizing S,M,L,XL 45.00
#108 Hvywt 100% cot sweater Smooth-stitched yoke Bdy/slvs in rich
nubby texture knit. Project Name left chest dk gn S,M,L,XL 75.00
Shipping & Handling: up to $30 - $3.50 $31 to $70 - $4.50
$71 to $100 - $5.50 $101 to $200 - $6.50
Sold to __________________________________________________________
Address __________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Phone __________________________________________________________
Prod Quantity Size Description Per Unit Total
____ _______ ____ ____________________ _______ _______
____ _______ ____ ____________________ _______ _______
____ _______ ____ ____________________ _______ _______
Sub-Total ______ Donation _____ Shipping ______ Total_______
Please make checks or money order out to:
Vietnam Women's Memorial Project, Inc.
2001 S St., NW Suite 302 Washington, DC 20009
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 77
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
Bits n' Pieces
==================================================================
Vets Bits
Submitted by Joyce Flory
With Thanks to Earl Appleby
VETLink #13 - Las Cruces, NM
(505) 523-2811
Area Ablenews (A FidoNet Echo) Jul-18-94
Twenty-six Desert Storm veterans are suing 11 US firms for more
than a billion dollars. Their class-action suit, filed in
Angleton, TX Monday, charges they suffered disabilities from
biological and chemical weapons used by the Iraqis. According to
the plaintiffs' attorney, David Bickham, the defendants are
accused of manufacturing biological compounds they knew were
dangerous and could be acquired by "an outlaw country like Iraq."
(Gulf War Vets Sue Firms, Citing Illness, USA Today, 6/8/94)
ABLEnews Editor's Note: See also, Lawsuit Seeks $1 Billion for
Gulf War Syndrome, Washington Times, 6/9/94)
"One puzzle for military alumni has been why the national media
have not examined the Clinton administration's record in
appoint(ing?) veterans to top slots. Because charges of draft
dodging were an issue in the 1992 campaign, and because prominent
vets, including former Beirut hostage Terry Anderson and Lewis
Puller Jr. supported candidate Clinton, veterans expected they
would be included in an administration that 'looks like America.'
Last September Lew Puller and I asked the White House for its data
on vet appointees, since the Office of Presidential Personnel was
giving information on its appointments of women, African-
Americans, Hispanics, and gays to some members of the press. When
we were refused the information, we began our own survey... 48% of
all American men over age 35 [are vets]. For men age 39-59 in
Senate-confirmed slots. 18% are military alumni, and the figure is
8% for men in that age group in the White House staff... In the
Bush White House as of January 1993... 53% of men age 39-59 were
vets... In 1992, 6.97 million vets voted for Clinton... Mr.
Clinton beat Mr. Bush by 5.5 million votes... How can the
president make speeches honoring vets when there is a big gap
between the portion of vets he appoint and their [numbers] in the
US population?... Unless the president acts, vets can be forgiven
for viewing the administration that 'looks like America' as one
that looks more like the Students for a Democratic Society, the
1960s radical protest group." --John Wheeler, founder, Valor
Alliance. (Veterans Don't Seem to 'Look Like American, Wheeler,
op-ed, Washington Times, 6/9/94)
ABLEnews Editor's Note: Valor Alliance is a network of academic
and business leaders dedicated to combating discrimination against
American veterans. Mr. Wheeler, chairman of the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial Fund from 1979-1989, campaigned for Clinton in the 1992
election.
In collaboration with the Departments of Veterans Affairs and
Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense is launching
a three-point program to investigate the illnesses reported by
veterans of the Persian Gulf War. According to Dr. Stephen Joseph,
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 78
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, the first phase
involves a "coordinated, comprehensive, and aggressive" effort to
determine the causes of the symptoms cited by Gulf vets. In the
second phase. Dr. Harrison Spencer, dean of Tulane University's
School of Public Health, reviews plans to study the syndrome. The
third phase creates a forum of national medical and public health
experts to advise the three agencies in their research efforts and
to channel public comment. (DoD Launches a New Medical Program for
Gulf Vets, Pentagram, 6/10/94)
"Prodded by veterans who say they have been forsaken by the nation
they served, the Clinton administration endorsed a bill Thursday
that would compensate victims of mysterious 'Persian Gulf
Syndrome' ailments.' This legislation is revolutionary. We have
never before provided payment for something we're not even certain
exists,' Veteran Affairs Secretary Jesse Brown said in testimony
to a House Veteran Affairs panel... 'We're headed in the right
direction although we still have a long ways to go,' said Phil
Budahn, spokesman for the American Legion. 'We would have wished
it would have been faster.' He added that it took 15 years for the
government to take similar action for Agent Orange victims after
the Vietnam War... 'We cannot always wait on research,' (Rep. G.V.
'Sunny') Montgomery (D-MS, chairman of the full committee) told
the subcommittee on compensation, pension, and insurance. 'While
we wait, severe medical problems are preventing some Persian Gulf
veterans from working and supporting their families. They need our
help now.'" (Syndrome Pay, Martinsburg Journal, 6/10/94)
ABLEnews Editor's Note: See also Illness Pay for Gulf Vets Is
Endorsed, Washington Post, 6/10/94.
CURE Comment: We salute the vets who are fighting the good fight
for Persian Gulf vets like my brother SFC Dwight David Appleby.
One for all and all for one!
According to a report in the Santa Crud Sentinel, the Gulf War
Syndrome may have been caused by a combination of insect repellent
and anti-nerve-gas pills. The California paper reported that US
Department of Agriculture researcher James Goss, in Gainesville,
Fl, accidentally discovered that the military-issued insect
repellant became 10 times more potent when combined with the
pills. 20,00 Persian Gulf veterans have suffered from fatigue,
rashes, memory loss, stomach problems, damaged nervous systems,
muscle and joint pain, and other health problems since the 1991
conflict. US military uniforms were treated with permethrin, a
powerful agricultural insecticide. ('Gulf War Syndrome' Linked to
Repellent, Pills, Washington Times, 6/14/94)
"Spokane, WA--Six weeks after Dean A. Mellberg was discharged from
the military for emotional problems, he stuffed an assault rifle
into a gym bag, took a cab to Fairchild Air Force Base, and killed
four people, including two therapists who had recommended his
discharge... A military policeman killed him in the parking lot...
Mellberg, 20, ... had had problems with a roommate in a dormitory
when he was stationed at Fairchild, said the base commander. The
Seattle Times reported the dispute started last year when the
roommate started rumors that Mellberg was homosexual. 'They put
out rumors he was gay... They stole chairs from inside his room..
They flattened the tires on his bike,' said Mellberg's mother,
Lois Mellberg of Lansing, MI... The gunman targeted Maj. Thomas
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 79
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Brigham, 31, a psychiatrist, and his office mate, Alan London, 40,
a psychologist. Both had recommended Mellberg for a discharge
based on psychiatric problems. 'He knew where he was going. He
went directly to that office,' Sheriff Goldman said." (2 Shooting
Victims Were Therapists, Baltimore Sun, 6/22/94)
ABLEnews Editor's Note: See also, Spokane Killer Planned Attack,
Washington Times, 6/22/94.
"Gulf war syndrome-- the illnesses plaguing thousands of veterans
cannot be traced to a single cause, the Pentagon said Thursday.
The findings of a task force headed by Nobel Laureate Joshua
Lederberg parallel those of a National Institutes of Health panel
and are sure to anger vets who say they can't get treatment.
"There's a long history of well-founded skepticism about similar
Pentagon reports," says American Legion spokesman Phil Budahn,
recalling the Vietnam veterans' struggle to win confirmation of
Agent Orange's health effects. The report found no evidence Iraqis
used chemical or biological weapons. But veterans and members of
Congress say those agents, as well as oil fumes, environmental
pollutants or medication to protect troops, may cause the fatigue,
joint pain, memory loss, and rashes many vets report. Deputy
Defense Secretary John Deutsch says the hunt will go on because
the Pentagon 'firmly believes there are service men and women who
are ill as a result of the Gulf experience.'" (Gulf Ills: No
Single Cause, John Ritter, USA Today, 6/24/94)
ABLEnews Editor's Note: See also, No Cause Found for Gulf Ills,
Washington Post, 6/24/94)
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 80
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
_
Cambodia |
| Hanoi
Bac Si -----/_\-----
-O==============< : >==============O-
( ) (...) ( )
Rockpile )|
_+|__|_ Medic!
|--- --|
------------------------===========================
\_______________________________________________)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
_____________ Camranh Bay
/ / / \ \ \
/ / / \ \ Rach-hui River
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Phubai
\ | / ((_______________))
\ | / ___|_ ___
\ | / Saigon / | | (( _|_ ))
\ | / __/___| |____/ *|
\ | / [________________|
\ | / \_______||_____
\ / Binhlong Province
\o/
| Blackhorse
/ \
Dak To |
/O\ Tayninh Province
\_______[|(.)|]_______/
o ++ O ++ o
Laos
| Patience ... Hell!!!
|
|____====________
||______________)==================|)
=============---------------------===_____
/| | | | |\\ TET
\________|__________|_________|_________|/
\\(O)___(O)___(O)___(O)___(O)___(O)//
Bien Hoa
Big Red One ____________ ======= _________________/|_____...
| | " === |_______________| |-----:::
|._ - " ) |_|___|
/ / |___| The Chicago Eight
/_/
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 81
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Babykillers, that's what we were called.
Anonymous
VETLink #1 - Tampa, FL
(813) 249-8323
Men who were sent to fight in a Police Action that they were not
allowed to win.
Men who were sent to fight and then were doused by chemicals that
are now causing them to have children that are deformed.
Men who had booby-trapped children come to them and detonate
themselves.
Men who were sent to fight and then were ridiculed by their
friends and neighbors and a whole host of people who knew more
about the Police Action than the men who were fighting.
Men who were sent to fight and saw their buddies killed and now
wish they were the ones killed.
Men who flew planes and dropped bombs where they were told and now
wish they were under the bombs when they exploded.
Men who manned guns on Navy ships and saw children blown up and
then came home to a child born just before they returned.
Men who are now cheering for the renewal of patriotism in our land
but wonder where the patriotism was while they were fighting.
Men who fought and lost arms and legs and other parts of their
bodies and now are being told they don't deserve the pensions that
they receive.
Men who still have problems that were caused by a Police Action
that is ten years in the past.
And most of all the men and remains of men who are still in a
foreign land and can't be brought home.
Babykillers, that's what we were called.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 82
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
VETLink BBS Spotlight
==================================================================
TRAUMATIZED VETERAN HELPS OTHERS VIA COMPUTER
Submitted by Joyce Flory
With Very Special Thanks to Russ Terry
VETLink #13 - Las Cruces, NM
(505) 523-2811
Russ Terry, a Vietnam veteran who suffers from post traumatic
stress disorder and operates a computer bulletin board to help
other veterans in need.
TRAUMATIZED VETERAN HELPS OTHERS VIA COMPUTER
By Gregg Patton
PATTON ON PEOPLE
Vietnam veteran Russ Terry, who suffers from post traumatic stress
disorder, operates a series of computer bulletin boards to help
troubled veterans.
About once a year, Russ Terry feels it coming on stronger -- the
frayed nerves, the need to hole up. Hide.
So he goes to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Loma Linda
and signs himself into the psychiatric ward for maybe a week or
10-day stay.
"I talk to the doctors, get a little tuneup, maybe they adjust my
medications," says Terry.
The periodic "tuneups" are part of coping with post traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), which has left the 44-year old Vietnam
veteran on 100 percent disability.
For nearly 10 years after he came home on a stretcher from
Vietnam, Terry was a model employee, working himself into a
supervisory position in the aero-space industry.
In the last 15 years, he has become agoraphobic -- afraid to leave
his Yucaipa home, which he shares with his wife, Linda, and three
school-age daughters. Linda has had to talk him out of closets,
where he has hidden for hours at a time. If he sleeps, it's only
briefly, after daybreak, and it's always punctuated with gruesome
nightmares of Vietnam.
The last day he worked, in 1985, he suffered a severe flashback
and attacked a fellow employee, an Asian, at a company Christmas
party.
When he does leave the house, which he does only with close
friends or family, he prepares for the ordeal by throwing up. The
anxiety makes him ill.
These are the things that have cost the Terry's friendships,
financial prosperity and normal family relationships.
"People in my own family will say 'Why does he act like that?'"
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 83
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
says Linda Terry.
These are the things that make him 100 percent disabled.
But not useless. From his solitude, he reaches out -- by
computer. Surrounded by American flags and other patriotic
mementoes in his home office, he operates a series of computer
bulletin boards designed to help other veterans with almost any
kind of trouble.
Trouble getting benefits from the VA. Trouble with drugs.
Trouble finding lost friends or family. Troubles of the lonely,
alienated, PTSD victim who just wants to chat electronically.
Connected by software and phone lines, a man who copes with
society only painfully face to face, spends most of his long
waking hours committed to making life easier for hundreds of
others.
He says he lives for his daughters' well-being. He credits Linda
for bearing with him, when many wouldn't. But he also needed
something for himself.
"If I didn't have this," he says, pointing to his computers, "I'd
be in the hospital. This gives me self-worth."
Terry grew up a patriotic kid in Downey, dropping out of high
school to enlist in 1967. The traumatic experiences of his
military life began immediately. He had just turned 18 in the
fall of 1967 when he was ordered to the Pentagon to expel anti-war
demonstrators -- with bloody force.
"We hurt people," he says. "These were kids my own age,
Americans. I split one little girl's face open with my rifle
butt."
It was the first of many compromising episodes. In Vietnam, he
drove bulldozers, clearing jungle to uncover Viet Cong hiding
places. He and his unit were constant targets of snipers. One
close friend died in his arms, covering him with blood from a
bullet hole in the neck.
"He had no vocal cords, but he was talking, begging me to tell his
parents and his girlfriend that he loved them," says Terry. "I
wanted to take his place."
Once his bulldozer crashed through the jungle floor, into an
underground shelter on top of a group of villagers.
"They were screaming. My commanding officer jumped into the hole,
stuck a pistol in my face, told me I had five minutes to get my
bulldozer out of there," says Terry. "I turned it back on. I
ground those people up."
He says it is their faces he sees and their screams he hears in
his nightmares.
"They're chastising me," he says. "That's PTSD reality."
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 84
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
He did two tours in Vietnam, a total of 19 months. He left when
his bulldozer hit a mine, leaving him with two dislocated knees, a
broken hip and a jammed back. He was put in a body cast and
shipped home.
In San Diego, home not more than an hour, he was spit at by two
civilians. It was nothing new. On leave the year before, in
uniform, he had been spit at in the San Francisco airport. He
learned to keep his mouth shut about the war, a trait experts say
is a key factor in PTSD.
"I didn't even know he was in Vietnam until years after we were
married, when all of this started," says Linda.
Discharged in 1970, Terry found work in the defence industry, then
as a quality control inspector for Deutsch in Banning. He met
Linda Freetly there and they married. Around 1978, Terry began
having stomach pains. In July 1979 he collapsed with chest pains.
Over the next six years, he was in and out of several jobs. As
symptoms reoccurred and worsened, the VA would recommend he quit
working, but wouldn't offer full disability pay. The PTSD went
undiagnosed because doctors thought Terry's Vietnam stories were
nonsense: A clerical error indicated he had never served there.
Finally, after the 1985 incident in which he attacked a fellow
worker, one doctor checked, discovered the error and finally
diagnosed the disorder.
Terry has been told there is no cure, only sedatives to take and
coping skills to learn. His family copes too.
"I married two men -- the PTSD Russ is not the one I first met,"
says Linda Terry.
"If I suffer PTSD, then my wife, my kids, my dog and my cat suffer
too," says Russ Terry, who eases the pain mainly through his $290-
per-month computer networking habit.
"I'm not going to take money for helping people. I just want them
to know there's help -- for people like me, too. I can't sleep, I
have flashbacks, but I can do something worthwhile.
"You don't have to commit suicide. You don't have to do anything
stupid."
You can log onto his computer network by calling (909) 797-1835 or
3764. Or you can call Terry in person and ask questions, (909)
797-815.
He grins, "I'm not going anywhere."
(JOYCE'S NOTE: CA. newspaper name and date unknown, 1994)
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 85
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
Eternal Vigilance ...
==================================================================
NamVet/IVVEC Service Department
by G. Joseph Peck, ESO
Electronic Veterans' Centers of America Corporation (EVAC)
Tampa, FL
Now we've done it
_____________
Electronic \ Service \
_____) Department )_____
_________(____(____________(_____(@)
) ) gjp
/ O O O O O O O O O/_/|
/<> O O O O O O O O O/ |
/MM O O O O O O O MM/ |
/ ___________ / .
/O (___________) O O/ . 11 Nov 94
(====================(.
ELECTRONIC SERVICE DEPARTMENT: For many of you who weren't aware,
we have an Electronic Service Department here in NamVet which
attempts to help any/all veterans and/or their families with
things such as information requests, discharge upgrades,
employment help and, generally, anything veteran-oriented that is
needed to help America's veterans.
Since moving our corporate headquarters to Tampa, Florida we've
contacted a few veteran service organizations concerning helping
with their veteran service operations and attending a few of the
service officer schools. The knowledge gained through any/all
service schools will be imparted to our many VETLink BBS
operators and, in turn, THEIR service may be able to help YOU in
the near future. Stay tuned - and, if you can, help us grow!
"Veteran Service," though, isn't always contained on a DVA Form or
in a DVA medical facility. Veteran Service, as we've discovered -
and the next three pages reveal - "happens" when its need is
discovered.
There are many other areas in which we have served - and have been
helped to continue in our efforts to serve you and all our brother
and sister veterans and their families.
For those of you who have helped - THANK YOU...
For those of you we can help - THANK YOU... for allowing us the
opportunity to prove the UNITY in our veteran commUNITY!!!
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 86
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
Treat Our Flag Right
By Gjoseph Peck
NamVet's Managing Editor
VETLink #1 - Tampa, FL
(813) 249-8323
Mr. XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX, General Manager
XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX Track
XXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX, XXXX.
Post Office Box XXXXX, XXXXXXX XXXX, Florida 3XXXX-XXXX
Dear General Manager XXXXXXXXXXX,
The flag of our great country - and oftentimes an MIA/POW flag -
as well as the echoing sounds of "The Star Spangled Banner" or
"God Bless America" remind those present at baseball and football
games and most places where Americans are gathered together at a
public event of our freedom and the high prices paid to attain and
maintain it. The flag(s) are not retired (do not come down) until
the event has concluded. The American flag flies proudly in the
center of xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx Track.
An average of 14 to 18 percent of the total wagered in an
individual xxxxx race goes to the State. Rounding DOWN dollar
odds to the nearest dime results in increased revenue to maybe
both the track and the state government - sometimes to the tune of
millions of dollars per season. An exercise of freedom.
More than 3620 young men from the State of Florida lost their
lives in Vietnam in support of the freedom we today enjoy. Many
more in other wars and conflicts.
It brought tears to my eyes to note that the American flag was
retired at the end of the xxth and prior to the beginning of the
xxth race in your evening performance of 27 August 1994 -
especially when it is located in an area so highly populated with
American military veterans. Surely, freedom means more to the
management of xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx Track than something to be
hastily put away in order that its freedom-loving patrons can
wager more money?
Yours in Service to America ... and my fellow man
In kindness, honesty, and good faith
G. Joseph Peck, President
Electronic Veterans' Centers of America, Corp.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 87
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
3 September 1994
Mr. XXXXX XXXX, XXXXXXXXXXX Manager
XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX Track
XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXX, XXXX.
Post Office Box XXXXX XXXXX, Florida 3XXXX-XXXX
Dear Mr. XXXX,
Reference is made to the complaint voiced in the enclosed
copy of my 27 August 1994 letter sent to: XXXXX XXXXXXXX, XX, -
Chairman of the Board; XXXX XXXXXXXX - President/General Manager;
XXXXXXXX XXXXXX - Director of Public Relations, and XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXX XXX, Paddock Judge complaining of the lack of respect
given the flag of our country. Exactly the same practice
occurred this evening, 3 September 1994, and I am terribly
incensed that 1) the practice continues, and 2) not a single one
of the above-mentioned addressee's has even bothered to respond to
my previous communication to them concerning this matter. Sitting
at the dining table we'd reserved tonight was a WWII veteran, two
mothers and two wives of veterans, and myself, a Vietnam era
veteran. The total bill for our meals and drinks came to over
$200. We all observed the repeated practice of disrespect for our
flag. We will not consider returning until the practice
complained of herein and in my previous letters has ceased - or
the management, realizing that it's display of the flag is but an
apparent act of hypocrisy, ceases to display it. In addition,
should I not hear, in writing, from you or any of the above-
mentioned addressee's of XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX Track concerning
this matter no later than 10 September 1994, as well as notifying
the international network of veterans that I head, I will be
contacting local and national veteran organizations and members of
the news media.
I know you are as deeply concerned as am I and hope that you might
be able to aid in an amicable resolution of this most distressing
practice.
Yours, In Service to America . . . . and my fellow man
In kindness, honesty, and good faith
G. Joseph Peck, President
Electronic Veterans' Centers of America, Corp.
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 88
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
10 October 1994
Mr. G. Joseph Peck, President
Electronic Veterans' Centers of America, Corp.
Post Office Box 261692
Tampa, Florida 33685-1692
Dear Mr. Peck,
I hope that you've noticed that we took your comments about the
flag under advisement, and have changed our procedures.
The flag now flies until the end of the 13th race.
Thank you for correcting us!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX Track
XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXX, XXXX.
Post Office Box XXXXX XXXXX, Florida 3XXXX-XXXX
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 89
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
==================================================================
IVVEC Phonebook/Information
==================================================================
IVVEC Phonebook
Submitted by Joyce Flory
VETLink #13 - Las Cruces, NM
(505) 523-2811
WELCOME HOME!!!!
If any of the following information is inaccurate or incomplete,
please contact me through the VIETNAM_VETS Echo or NetMail at
1:305/105 (FidoNet), 19:300/100, or 19:1/52 (VETNet).
I would, also, like to know if any of these boards are Pay BBS's
(pay per hour) or Subscriber BBS's (for extended time, etc. you
must pay a fee). I feel you vets have paid enough without having
to pay for vet information, access to the NAM_VET echo, or to
download the NAM_VET newsletter AND have a right to know which
boards charge.
Though I regularly check the listings against the Nodelist to make
sure they have the correct phone number(s), I have no way of
knowing (short of calling them all - grin) *if* they carry the echo
or not. Remember, this list is only as good as my information.
Your help and information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you;
Joyce (K.O.T.L.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Updated 11-10-94
AUSTRALIA
Brisbane, Queensland Lands MultiLine BBS 011-061-07-391-3501
CANADA
CN Canoe, B.C. Lyman Hills Fortress 604-832-7183
CN Etobicoke, Ont. CRS Online 416-213-6037
CN Etobicoke, Ont. SomethingELSE TBBS 416-236-3125
CN Ottawa, Ont. Power House BBS 613-744-5894
CN Thunder Bay, Ont. Online Now 807-345-7248
CN Thunder Bay, Ont. Online Now 807-345-1531
CN Regina, Sask. Vet's Perspective BBS/ 306-789-9909-NL !
VETLink #57
AL Athens Sleepless Knights 205-233-5730
AL Decatur Byte Swap 205-355-2983
AL Gardendale VETLink #48 205-631-4513-NL !*
AL Millbrook King James Bible 205-285-5948
AL Mobile Di's Online Cafe 205-661-8945
AL Montgomery C.C.S. OnLine 205-281-1331
AL Pleasant Grove Family Smorgas-Board 205-744-0943-NL !
(VETLink #26)
AK Fairbanks Sodalitas (VETLink #62) 907-451-6499-NL !
AR Benton The Fishin' Hole 501-794-4072
AR Fairfield Bay Fairfield Bay/Vets BBS 501-884-6277-NL !
(VETLink #50)
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 90
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
AR Strickler Gensoft 501-761-9600
AZ Fountain Valley The Mall (VETLink #39) 602-837-7808-NL !
AZ Mesa The Sleep Robber BBS 602-985-1088
AZ Phoenix AzCLU BBS 602-650-1180
Mon. thru Fri. - 6pm to 8am; Weekends - 6pm Fri. to 8am Mon.
AZ Phoenix The GhostRider BBS 602-439-2226
AZ Phoenix The Messenger 602-547-9524
AZ Phoenix Nat'l Congress For Men BBS 602-840-4752
AZ Phoenix Nighthawk BBS 602-582-1127-PB*
AZ Sierra Vista United We Stand, America 602-459-0013
CA Azusa Azusa Pacific BBS 818-969-9170
CA Bakersfield Servicemen's BBS Network 805-399-9607-NL !
(VETLink #71)
CA Castro Valley Combat Arms BBS 510-537-1777
CA Claremont Interamnia BBS 909-624-2246
CA Clovis Clovis-Net BBS 209-292-3530
CA Davis Dynasoft Node 916-753-8788
CA El Segundo Spider's Web 310-416-9901
CA Glendora Library BBS 818-914-0221
CA Hayward G A D M 510-886-1621
CA Los Angeles Long_Island RB 310-370-4113
CA Los Angeles SoCalNet EC 818-969-9542
CA Mission Viejo The Solar System 714-707-4625
CA Mission Viejo The Solar System 714-837-9677
CA Nipomo Chthonic BBS 805-343-6018
CA Novato McBlob's Super BBS 415-382-9410
CA Novato Mover Mouse BBS 415-898-2644
CA Oakland LZ/Nightline (VETLink #22) 510-251-9413-NL !
CA Ontario The Diamond Bar BBS 909-947-7478
CA Ontario The Diamond Bar BBS 909-923-1031
CA Orange Ol' Codger's BBS 714-639-1139
CA Poway SGT ROCK's BBS 619-748-5406
CA Redlands Tripping in America 909-381-6013
CA Riverside Solid Rock BBS 909-785-9176
CA Sacramento Humanx Commonwealth BBS 916-737-1844
CA Sacramento Seanachie 916-481-3552
CA Sacramento Siren 916-482-9976
CA Sacramento Siren 916-486-2963
CA San Diego Analog Man/VETLink #53 619-4497-0113-NL !
CA San Diego FarOut BBS 619-581-9049
CA San Diego Open Forum 619-284-2924
CA San Francisco PC GFX Exchange 415-337-5416
CA San Mateo Skeptic's Board 415-572-0359
CA Santa Rosa Sonoma Online 707-545-0785
CA West Covina R/C Model Plane 818-919-2879
CA Yucaipa The Zoo/VETLink #33 909-797-1835-NL !
CO Aurora Dustoff 303-343-8810
CO Aurora The Silver Hammer 303-766-8035
CO Boulder Pinecliffe HST DS 303-642-0703
CO Colorado Sprgs Earth Station Alpha 719-636-8979
CO Colorado Sprgs Electric Locksmith 719-390-9249
CO Denver HotelNet 303-296-1300
CO Golden LES-COM-net 303-526-2047
CO Littleton InterConnect 303-420-1942
CO Woodland Park High Reaches CyberSchool 719-687-5974
CT Branford Alice's Restaurant 203-488-1115
CT Branford Fernwood OS 2 Line 2 203-481-7934
CT Danbury Treasure Island 203-791-8532-NL
CT Granby Blackjack BBS 203-653-6646
Seventh Annual NamVet Page 91
Volume 7, Number 1 November 12, 1994
CT Killingly The Mad - VETLink #11 203-779-3173-NL !
CT Killingworth The Hub 203-663-1147
CT Meriden Amiga Probe 203-878-5879
CT Plantsville The Pig Pen 203-628-9346
CT Plantsville The Pig Pen 203-620-0562
CT Southington DownStairs SC EchoHub 203-621-1930
CT Wallingford Prime Connection 203-265-9582
CT Wallingford Prime Connection 203-269-2843
CT Wallingford Vampire Connection 203-269-8313
CT West Haven Ascii Tipi (VETLink #15) 203-934-9852-NL !
CT Willimatic Starbase 9/VETLink #51 203-423-6799-NL !
CT Windsor Locks DIAMOND BBS 203-292-8789
CT Yalesville Emerogronican BBS 203-949-0189
DE Dover DELFIRE BBS 302-739-6757
DE New Castle Hackers BBS 302-322-8215
FL Clarcona West Orange BBS 407-293-2724
FL Clearwater Future Com 813-796-8259
FL Cocoa VETLink 60/The Merc's Motel 407-639-0282-NL !
FL Davis The Southern Cross BBS 305-424-0666
FL Deland Bill's Bandwagon 904-738-3858
FL Jacksonville Guiding Light (VETLink #32) 904-744-9991-NL !
FL Jacksonville Maranatha (VETLink #49) 904-353-3807-NL !
^^ DOWN ^^
FL Jacksonville Maranatha (VETLink #49) 904-353-3558-NL !
^^ DOWN ^^
FL Jacksonville Whispers (VETLink #65) 904-744-5624-NL !
FL Keystone Hts. The Lion's Den 904-473-4330
FL Kissimmee Micro-Imaging BBS 407-847-5499
FL Kissimmee The Program Exchange 407-870-2735
FL Melbourne Flamingo BBS 407-253-0782
FL Melbourne REACT BBS 407-255-9948
FL Merritt Island Electric Island BBS 407-454-3779
FL Navarre Terrapin Station 904-939-8027
FL New Port Richie Inner Sanctum 813-848-6055
FL Orlando Digital Connection 407-896-0494
FL Orlando Gourmet Delight 407-649-4136
FL Orlando Infinite Space Online 407-658-4578
FL Orlando UP-EAST BBS 407-273-7849
FL Panama City Double Springs BBS 904-784-6336-NL !
(VETLink #64)
FL Pembroke Pines Bitsy's Place (VETLink #17) 305-432-8210-NL !
FL Pensacola TITAN Services Inc. 904-479-2448
FL Pensacola TITAN Services Inc. 904-476-1270
FL Rockledge Energy Line 1 407-690-0032
FL Shalimar Bear's Den 904-864-5327
FL St. Petersburg Doc's Place! 813-896-0046
FL St. Petersburg Florida Mail Hub 813-321-0734
FL St. Petersburg 1 Computers (VETLink #43) 813-527-1556-NL !
^^ DOWN ^^
FL St. Petersburg 1 Computers (VETLink #43) 813-521-3149-NL !
^^ DOWN ^^
FL St. Petersburg Twilight BBS 813-323-6023
FL Sarasota The Four Winds BBS 813-955-7862
FL Sebring ANCESTRY TBBS 813-471-0552
FL Tampa The GIFfer 813-969-1089
FL Tampa The Godfather BBS